Past the End of Time
by FanFicGuru
Summary: The world is under attack yet again, this time by a creature who can not only flow through time easily, but commands the eight elements of the realm of time and space. Only Crono and his companions can put an end to this menace and bring peace to Time and
1. Hero Reunion

Crono awoke from his peaceful slumber and turned slowly to his beautiful wife Marle.   
~I'm so lucky...~ he thought to himself as he stroked her blonde hair to one side of her face so he could see her beautiful porcelain skin. Such a sight helped him ease his troubled mind from the other events in the kingdom, like monsters appearing in the forests again and recent tremors shaking the land.   
Marle shifted gently under the covers and opened her eyes, blinking a couple times she smiled.   
"Morning..." she said with a yawn.   
"Good morning love..." Crono said and put his lips to hers.   
She smiled and got out of bed, putting on her slippers she made her way downstairs to where the palace cooks were preparing their typical banquet breakfast.   
"Good morning everyone!" Marle said with a smile as Crono came downstairs behind her.   
The cooks and chefs all greeted the beautiful Queen and the King with cheers and yells. Crono smiled as he followed Marle to the table where they sat. Marle's father sitting on Marle's right side as Crono sat to her left.   
The meal was spread out before them...   
Toast and eggs, sausage and beef, rolls, fruits, vegetables. All laid out on magnificent platters all along the dining table in the great Hall.   
"Here's to good eatin'!" Crono said with a raise of his glass as he began to pile food up onto his plate.   
"You're such a pig crono!" Marle said with a giggle as she picked up a few sausages, an egg and some fruit.   
The two ate peacefully, now growing quite comfortable in their new home, and with their new titles.   
It had been a few years since Crono, Marle and their companions had made that trip back and forth through time to save the world from the destruction of Lavos.   
Crono wasn't sure what happened with Robo, Ayla or Magus when they returned...but he knew that Frog (Or Glenn) had become a legendary swordsman and an unmatched bodyguard in his remaining years, and that Lucca was taking care of a child of her own now.   
~Yes,~ he thought to himself... ~This is much more like it.~   
Just as he was about to take another bite of sausage a great tremor shook the palace. The plates and dishes all came crashing down as the pictures on the wall fell forward. Small rocks coming off of the walls and ceiling as Crono held onto his wife tightly.   
After a few seconds the tremor stopped.   
"Its alright everyone!" Crono said assuringly...   
"It was just a small earthquake!"   
The palace servants all looked to each other as Crono sat back down next to his wife.   
Marle was looking down, wide eyed...her hands shaking lightly.   
"Marle?! What's wrong honey?" Crono asked with great alarm.   
"My...my pendant." She said...   
~Her pendant...that dammned pendant...~ he thought. That was the thing that started the whole "Save the world" bit a few years earlier. What was the matter with it now?   
Crono looked down and he too was horrified at what he saw.   
The pendant's middle had gone from blue to a pitch black, the abyss swirling around inside the middle of her pendant.   
"I don't like this..." Marle said with a shaking voice.   
"I don't like this one bit..."   
Lucca finally came out from under the doorway, holding her daughter close as she stepped out.   
"It's ok kid...its over now." She said cooing.   
Kid looked around with awe at the damage the tremor had done, the books were all over the floor and some of her mommy's best inventions had fallen over.   
~I wonder what that was all about...~ Lucca thought to herself...   
Suddenly the alarm on the wall went off.   
Lucca froze with terror, that alarm was set up for the Epoch's final resting place...something was happening with the Epoch, and that was never a good thing.   
Lucca quickly ran towards the secret door and put in her password, the door sliding open as she ran down the stairs.   
~What's this all about!?~ she thought violently to herself as she passed layer after layer of defense to keep the Epoch from falling into the wrong hands.   
After passing through the final door Lucca was amazed at what she saw. The Epoch's engine was running and was starting to open a portal on its own, it could have left by now but it seemed to have wanted Lucca to come down and hop in...carrying Kid the whole time Lucca climbed into the Epoch's cockpit and input the controls to take her to the palace.   
"I'm sure those two lovebirds won't want to be kept out of this one..." Lucca said with a smile as she took off.   
*   
Crono ran up to his quarters with Marle close behind.   
"Marle..." he said, slightly out of breath.   
"Yes dear?" she said, very frightened at the moment.   
"Lucca will be paying us a visit shortly, with your pendant acting up and the recent tremors...I think something is out of place in time again..."   
Marle gasped and slowly brought her hand to her mouth.   
"Does that mean...we have to...?"   
Crono nodded solemnly.   
"It would be best to get out your battle gear love...I think that what we have ahead of us will be requiring it."   
Marle nodded as she went to the old forgotten chest in her closet...she brushed some dust off of it and opened the case slowly, taking out her old crossbow and armor.   
Crono ran down the hall to his chambers and pulled his armor down, along with his legendary Rainbow Sword.   
  
Lucca landed outside of the castle and hopped out of the epoch, the guards surprised because they hadn't seen the epoch since Crono arrived with Marle in it years before as Lucca sped into the castle. To her surprise Crono and Marle were already set to go.   
"I see you got my message..." Lucca said, slightly out of breath.   
"Yeah..." Crono said. His face bearing a rather serious look.   
"Where should we head first?" Marle asked with curiousity.   
Lucca thought for a moment.   
"Let's go visit Gaspar at the End of Time..." she said finally.   
"Hey! And maybe we can play with Spekkio while we're there!"   
Marle asked with excitement.   
Crono and Lucca looked at each other and sighed before the three ran back out and jumped into the epoch.   
"End of time! Here we come!" Lucca exclaimed as she input the coordinates and they dissappeared in a flash of light and a thunderclap.   
*   
Magus snarled...   
"I can't believe we're doing this again..." he grimaced as he stared down Ozzie, Flea and Slash.   
"Oh come on Magus...did you actually think we could just let you get away with betraying us?" Slash asked mockingly.   
"Yes...that is if you wanted to live any longer..." Magus said with a warning tone.   
Ozzie and Flea laughed.   
"Surely you don't think that you can take us all by yourself do you?" Ozzie said, still chuckling lightly.   
"I don't think I can...I know I can." Magus said as he tightened his gloves he mumbled the incantations...   
"Shintoki grikorum hendak renthro kindak firo!" he exclaimed as he threw out his arms a wave of fire swept over the three as flea laughed and cast a shield over herself, slash and ozzie, after the flames passed Slash quickly charged towards Magus and attacked...spin slashing at his chest.   
Magus brought up a small dagger and blocked the slash as his Scythe came around from Slash's right side and tore through his middle, Slash's intestines spilling onto the floor as he fell onto one knee Magus picked up Slash's blade and decapitated him with it, the rain of blood creating a red mist in front of his figure...surely he was a bringer of death.   
Flea screamed in rage as she threw out her hand firing a black lightning bolt.   
Magus jumped up and hovered above the bolt for a minute, holding out his scythe he fired an ice dagger towards Flea at incredible speed. Flea quickly rolled to the left as Ozzie then came up and fired a large ball of fire at magus. Magus quickly dropped down and landed on one knee tossing three daggers at flea she picked them off one by one with small fireballs...not noticing that while she was focusing on the fireballs Magus had sped around behind her. Before she knew what happened Magus had sliced her in half, separating her top from her bottom.   
Just as Magus was going in for the kill on ozzie he heard a voice.   
"Magus! Magus can you hear me?" a familiar voice cried.   
"Yes..." he replied silently...   
"Its Gaspar! Use your gate key and get to the End of Time right now! Its important!"   
Magus growled...   
"I'm kind of busy right..."   
"RIGHT NOW MAGUS!!" The old man demanded as Magus turned and ran out the door, leaving a bloody mess behind, and a ruined Ozzie.   
  
Glenn looked over his elite corps as they went over their morning exercises...   
"Keep it up men!" He yelled to them as the rain fell lightly around them.   
"Alex! Keep that back straight! Cain! What are you doing? Watch your position!"   
The wind blew slightly around Glenn as he smiled, looking down to Masamune on his side, he looked around to his men.   
~This is all I could ever want...~ He thought with a grin.   
Suddenly two of his soldiers came running up to him.   
"SIR!" They saluted.   
"What is it?" Glenn asked, slightly annoyed at their interrupting his exercises.   
"Its the forest sir! The monsters are growing nearer and nearer to the castle! The queen wants you immediately to help fight them off!"   
Glenn looked behind him and in the distance the forest lay at the base of Guardia Castle, the heart of the kingdom.   
"We must go immediately!" He yelled.   
He turned to his men.   
"Come! To battle!" As he unsheathed masamune and lead his corps into the forest.   
*   
Robo and Atropis stood at the top of Mt. Hope...formerly known as Death Peak...as Robo turned to Atropis and took her robotic hand gently.   
"Dear Atropis...these last three years have been the happiest ones of my life...that is...since I started feeling emotions."   
Atropis squeezed his hand lightly.   
"Yes...every day this once bleak world grows brighter and brighter with life and color."   
The two robots turned and looked down onto the now green fields that surrounded the domes where the new age humans lived.   
After defeating Lavos along with his friends Crono, Marle, Lucca, Ayla, Glenn and Magus...he was able to help the humans rebuild their world, and slowly...it was getting back to its old beautiful ways.   
"And yet..." Robo said with a hint of caution.   
"What is it?" Atropis asked with a concerned look on her face.   
"Something in my circuits is reacting to the recent events...I have to go see what's wrong"   
Atropis stood and walked a few steps away before turning back to face Robo.   
"Please...don't talk about it...I don't want to hear you say it..."   
Robo sighed.   
"I have to..."   
"NO!" Atropis yelled.   
"No you don't! I won't let you!" She became as emotional as robots could be...   
Robo was surprised at how worked up Atropis was getting as he took a few light steps towards her.   
"Atropis, I love you...but if something really is going wrong in the time flow then you know I will have to go and help my friends restore the balance..." Robo slowly took out the Gate Key that lucca had given to him and the others in case they were needed again.   
"However, I will always come back for you..." He said.   
Atropis fell onto her knees, her gears working overtime as her "emotions" began to overflow.   
"You better Robo..." she said, her voice changing pitch and volume, signifying worry.   
"I will..." Robo said softly as he turned and walked towards the dome where the Gate was located.   
~One good thing out of this...~ he thought.   
"I can see Lucca again." He smiled at this as he entered the dome and opened the gate...entering it as he went to the end of time.   
*   
Ayla dragged the huge beast into the middle of the circle.   
"Ayla bring food! Big food! We all eat!" She exclaimed as her people cheered with appreciation.   
It had been tough for them after Lavos had fallen since the environment grew colder and the food grew scarce...Ayla was still able to keep her tribe fed though...with the help of kino.   
As she walked away from her people tearing into the food she came up to Kino.   
"Kino, ayla must talk..."   
Kino walked with her into a nearby tent.   
"Kino...Ayla get funny feeling. I think Crono need help."   
Kino's eyes widened.   
"Ayla! Kino need you! Crono can wait, no?" he pleaded.   
Ayla shook her head sadly.   
"Kino, Ayla love you...but Crono need Ayla strength! Ayla strong! You see? I must go..." she tried to reason with him.   
"Ayla better not die!" Kino said with determination.   
"Silly Kino! Ayla no die! Ayla too strong!!" She laughed and wrapped her arms around kino, giving him a full kiss on the lips as she headed up to the mountain where the gate was...   
"Here Ayla go again...hope no fight big spikey beast..." she said to herself as she jumped into the gate.   
  
Crono leaned against the wall and sighed.   
Lucca was sitting on the other side of the room holding kid close to her, napping.   
Marle was sitting next to Crono beginning to doze off herself.   
~This room hasn't gotten any bigger since the last time I came…~ Crono thought in wonder.   
~You'd think something as important as the "End Of Time" would be a little more elaborate…~ his thoughts bringing a smile to his face.   
Gaspar had refused to tell them what was going on until the others got there. Crono didn't like the way he said it…not one bit.   
Suddenly Kid got out of her mother's grip and walked towards the bucket in the corner…   
"Kid, no!" Crono yelled as he dived and grabbed Kid, pulling her towards him.   
"Relax Crono…" Gaspar said calmly between snores. "I closed that Gate…so settle down."   
Lucca awoke with a snort as Crono put Kid down and she ran crying to Lucca.   
"What did you do Crono?" Lucca asked curiously.   
"I…she was heading towards the bucket…" He nodded towards that infernal bucket, that portal to hell.   
Lucca gasped and held Kid closer to her.   
"Like I told Crono already…I sealed that gate. Now would you all relax until the others get here?" Gaspar then went back to his usual sleeping.   
Suddenly from the other room Crono saw a flash of light…then another….and another.   
~It must be them!~ he thought as he ran to go greet old friends.   
He threw open the door as he ran into the other room.   
Ayla smiled and threw her arms around Crono.   
"Strong Crono! You need Ayla no?" She asked with a big smile.   
"Ayla…its good to see you. And I don't know...Gaspar isn't saying anything yet. He said he would when everyone got here though."   
Robo looked around.   
"Is everyone here?" He asked.   
Crono looked around as well then turned back to Robo.   
"It looks like Glenn is running late, that's unusual…"   
Magus chuckled.   
"Maybe he's having trouble walking with those human legs…after all those years as a frog." He was amusing himself it seemed.   
Crono sighed and walked into the other room.   
~I wonder where he could be?~ He thought with concern…   
*   
Glenn looked over his shoulder as he ran, seeing three orcs behind him. Quickly he pivoted and pushed off his left foot, driving his Masamune into one of the orcs stomach and pulling it upwards with all his strength…ripping through the orcs skin as he split him open, the green liquid spraying everywhere. Another orc quickly slashed at Glenn with his axe, but Glenn backflipped as he watched the axe take any little life that other orc may have had as it split him in two. The orc then swung again opening up a place for Glenn to lunge and get him in the chest, as he pulled it to the side ripping out the beast's shoulder bone he jumped and spin slashed at the orc's neck to finish it off as its head went flying off its body.   
Finally he turned to the General orc.   
~This blasted orc's troop killed two of my best men…and nearly made it to the castle where they would have done god knows what to the queen…~ his teeth grinding in rage.   
~But now…he's mine!~ He yelled in his head as he charged towards the orc.   
The orc swung his broadsword towards the lower left side of Glenn's stomach, but he quickly brought down the Masamune to block the attack…the two metals clashing with a great ringing sound as sparks came flying off of it. Glenn quickly shot out his foot towards the monster's stomach. The orc doubled over from the pain of the steel boot plunging deep into his stomach as Glenn brought his knee up into the orcs face, sending him into the air while Glenn prepared his finishing move, standing under the orc he put his sword into the air. The orc fell onto the sword's tip as it went through his chest. The beast fell with such force that if not for the strong hilt it would have kept on going. Glenn put his sword into the ground and pushed the corpse off of his blade as he sheathed his now blood-stained Masamune and started to walk back to the castle. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice in his head.   
"Glenn! Glenn where are you?" the voice asked.   
"Who is it?" Glenn responded quietly.   
"Its me! Crono!" Crono said from the end of time.   
"Crono? How can I hear you?" Glenn asked in wonder.   
"Don't worry about that! Get your gate key and come to the End of Time at once! Something has gone terribly wrong in the flow of time!" Crono said desperately.   
Glenn knew that his queen needed him now more than ever…how could he get up and leave her to those beasts?   
"Crono…I…" he began to say…but the voice was gone.   
"No matter," Glenn thought. "I shall simply explain when I get there that I can not help them this time. The queen needs me!" As he walked towards the canyon where the Gate was.   
  
"I hope that worked…" Crono sighed as he turned to the door that lead to Spekkio's room.   
"I wonder how old Spekkio's doing…" Crono said aloud.   
Marle's eyes opened up as she hopped up and stood next to Crono.   
"Let's see!" She exclaimed as she opened the door.   
Inside the room was incredibly dark, with the exception of a small, raccoon like creature standing in the middle of the room.   
Suddenly the room lit up, torches lighting everywhere as Spekkio squealed with glee.   
"Well well well! It seems like my good friends have returned!" He exclaimed.   
"Yes, but I wish it could be on a happier note…" Crono said sadly.   
"As do I…however this means I can get more of a workout! Come on! How about a little battle? For old times sakes?" Spekkio looked to them with pleading eyes.   
Crono and Marle looked at each other.   
"Pleeeeease?" He blinked a few times with pouty lips.   
"I guess…" Crono said as he sighed.   
"YAY!" Spekkio squealed.   
"Ok ok! Prepare to be amazed! I'm not called the master of war for nothing!" He exclaimed with excitement as he spun around, taking the form of a Nu.   
Crono slumped over, exhausted just looking at Spekkio's ultimate form.   
"Spekkio, why are you skipping to your last form already? We haven't fought like this in over three years! Can you tone it down a little?" Crono begged.   
"Awww…you're no fun! Fine…" Spekkio pouted and transformed into his regular form.   
"Let's play!" He shouted as he held out his hands and lightning shot all around Crono and Marle. They both stood silently as it grew closer until finally they both rolled out of the way in opposite directions.   
Crono jumped high into the air and signaled Marle for the Ice Sword…level 2.   
Marle nodded and closed her eyes…muttering some words under her breath.   
"Wendriko neshta…nimko rathnok Shinto!" she cried as a blue light flew up and enveloped Crono's rainbow sword. As he brought it down hard onto Spekkio's head a humongous glacier surrounded spekkio, as Crono slashed the glacier up and down splitting it into slices that went in different directions to pull spekkio apart.   
"Oi! OW!" Spekkio cried as he teleported out of the attack as it was almost over.   
"That could have killed me!" Spekkio exclaimed.   
"No it couldn't have…I know as well as you do that you could easily end any spells whenever you'd like…now stop whining!" Crono told him.   
Suddenly another loud sound was heard from the other room.   
"Its Glenn!" Marle said with excitement as she ran to where all the Gates met up.   
*   
Glenn closed his eyes as the portal opened back up and he stepped out into the room where all the Gates lead. Suddenly he heard running.   
"Glenn! Is that you?" It was Marle, that young girl whose resemblance to the queen in his time was so unbelievable that she convinced the whole kingdom of it around the time that they fought Lavos.   
Glenn smiled as he hugged Marle lightly.   
"Its good to see you again m'lady." He said with a light bow.   
Marle giggled.   
"Always the charmer huh Glenn?" Came a deep voice from behind.   
"M'lord Crono…I need to talk to you." Glenn said hurriedly.   
"No time Glenn, Gaspar wants to talk to us first." Crono said as he turned back to the other room where Gaspar was waiting.   
"Oh well…" Glenn thought.   
"I'll just hear out what the old man has to say I guess…and if it is indeed important only then shall I stay." Glenn convinced himself as they all walked into the other room.   
  
"Its Frog! Ayla happy!" Ayla said as she picked up Glenn in a bone crunching bear-hug.   
"Um, it's Glenn now, but thank you." He gasped out.   
Magus scoffed.   
"What took you so long? Had to pry your lips off the old queens @$$?"   
Glenn turned with a glare to Magus.   
"As a matter of fact I was fighting off some rather vicious orcs…" He said in a threatening tone.   
"That's enough out of the both of you." The old man's voice interjected.   
"I didn't call you all here to get into an argument. What is happening now is probably just as bad as what all of you faced a few years ago…" he said slowly as he looked over the seven heroes.   
"If not worse." 


	2. Adventure Begins

The adventure begins  
As Gaspar was beginning to talk to the heroes at the End of Time a shadowy figure stepped out of a gate in 12000 BC.   
"The Black Omen should be here." the tall figure growled as he looked into the sky.   
He walked out a little further to the edge of the island and was shocked to see the black omen resting, broken and shattered, at the bottom of the ocean.   
"How could this have happened? The black omen should have been here just like I saw it!"   
He turned back to the gate and unsheathed his blade.   
"I'm sure that old man Gaspar from the end of time has something to do with this damned screw up!" he exclaimed as he ran towards the gate and opened it with a wave of his hand.   
*   
"For the time being, as soon as Glenn arrived, I have shut down all the gates entrances to this realm…" Gaspar said rather calmly.   
"Why Gaspar?" Lucca asked in a very concerned tone.   
Gaspar sighed and turned to face the wall…taking a minute before turning back around and addressing the heroes.   
"When I brought you here those 3 years ago I explained almost everything I knew to you in detail, about the Gurus of Zeal and of Janus…" as he looked to Magus.   
"And his sister Schala. But there was one thing I did not tell you about…"   
The seven warriors leaned in with great interest to what Gaspar had to say.   
"There was indeed another Guru…perhaps the greatest of us all…" He took a minute again, as if every time he was about to explain something he had to build up the strength to do so.   
"His name was Matzu…the Guru."   
The rest seemed to wait for the remainder of the guru's title.   
"The guru of what?" Glenn finally asked impatiently.   
"Everything practically…" Gaspar said with a sigh.   
"While I was the guru of time, and Melchoir the guru of reason and Balthazar the Guru of Life…Matzu had incredible knowledge of everything in existence…knowledge that even surpassed Queen Zeal's…when she still was sane."   
Magus was somewhat surprised at this idea, but of course did not feel the need to show it physically.   
"Anyways, after Zeal began to look deeper into the whole Lavos thing Matzu began to worry for her and tried to offer her some advice. Zeal refused it violently and although Matzu was a very wise and powerful man, he wasn't quick to anger…then."   
Crono looked to Marle and Lucca as if they knew that what Gaspar had to say next wasn't going to be good.   
"After trying to warn Zeal again and again of Lavos' awful power the queen finally got fed up and had her best magicians lock him away into a place similar to my own…however it was never locked in a specific time as mine is at the End of Time…this separate dimension of his flowed through time like a parallel dimension over the eras you knew well during your travels as well as others. From 65,000,000 BC to 2300 AD and beyond his parallel dimension granted him with strength beyond anyone's wildest imaginations because even though he was spending all that time in his dimension…he never aged a day."   
The heroes were all enveloped in this grandiose fairy tale like children at a magic show.   
"So after Matzu had increased his powers to such a level that he was able to grant himself his own elements of magic he was able to work his way up the Magic ranks until he was finally able to start distorting time and space itself…which was about a few months ago."   
Crono's eyes widened as he realized that it was around that time that the tremors started.   
  
Matzu stepped out of the gate in 65,000,000 BC.   
"Dammit Gaspar! You can't have me running around like this forever…I'll get to you! Just wait and see!" he shouted into the heavens as he fell and landed on one knee.   
A few reptites came out of the bushes…after the death of their King Azala they had become few and scattered…but some small tribes still lived up in the mountains feeding off the wildlife.   
The reptites all eyed Matzu, licking their lips.   
"Looks delicious doesn't it…?" one of them said as he took a step closer.   
"Indeed…I'll take the left thigh…" one of the others said.   
They all growled and jumped at Matzu. He smiled and held out his hand as they all stopped in mid air…frozen in time.   
"Fools…" he muttered as he held out his blade he quickly moved it around…the blade moving so fast the only evidence it was there were the small gusts of wind as he slashed the blade.   
Waving his hand he reanimated their bodies and instantly they fell to pieces…blood spilling everywhere as their bodies lay in pieces on the ground.   
Matzu turned and headed back up the mountain to go into the Gate again…getting rather frustrated that he was running around in circles.   
*   
Gaspar sighed again.   
"His power is beyond verbal description…he can bend time and space itself…he has acquired and mastered EVERY element…there is only one thing that could make him more powerful…" Gaspar said with a wave of fear sweeping over his words.   
"If he passed the End of Time…"   
The heroes all looked to each other with wonder.   
"Passed the end of time??" Lucca asked with a ring of disbelief.   
"How could he do that?"   
Gaspar turned back to the heroes.   
"Well, as I said his dimension flowed over the ages like a parallel dimension…from the beginning to the End…yes he was even over my realm for a short time. As he passed over the dimensions he was able to watch what was occurring. Including when Lavos destroyed the world in 1999 AD. Now this he saw as it was happening…what he didn't know was that you were able to travel back and save the past…and the future."   
Lucca's mouth opened as she nodded.   
"I get it…its kind of like when you're looking at something 500 light years away…what you see is how the object was like 500 years earlier since it takes so long for the light to get to your eyes."   
Gaspar nodded.   
"Somewhat…"   
Crono sat down.   
"So what you're saying is he saw the world get destroyed by Lavos…and he doesn't know that we saved it yet?"   
The old man turned to Crono.   
"He does now…I feel his power transferring from era to era…he's fighting with all his power to get here. Because although he has great control over time and space he can not create a gate to get here. He has to rely on the gates to get him here. And once he does get here…it will already be too late."   
"Why is that?" Glenn asked.   
"As I was saying before, the only way he could become stronger is if he passed the end of time…and from here he could create a portal to enter that area. What's out there I don't know…only one other creature has been past the end of time…" Gaspar slowly looked to the door that lead to Spekkio's chambers.   
"SPEKKIO?!" The heroes all shouted at once.   
Gaspar nodded.   
"But we can defeat Spekkio's ultimate form rather easily now Gaspar…why are you so worried if all it grants Matzu is that kind of power?" Crono asked.   
Gaspar shook his head and muttered.   
"Foolish boy, do you ever wonder why Spekkio never comes out of that room? I was able to bring spekkio here as a companion and granted him speech so that we might be able to communicate…he would come out and talk to me and keep me from going insane most of the time. One day something went wrong and a portal opened up over there…"   
Gaspar nodded to where they docked for the Epoch.   
"And Spekkio was pulled in…instantly afterwards it opened back up again…this time in that room back there…" Gaspar showed them.   
"Spekkio was instantaneously granted unfathomable powers…he had command over time, space, water, ice, fire, earth, lightning and shadow. His physical strength became unbelievable and became a menace to the entire universe throughout time. So he asked me to seal the room and cast a spell on him to help keep his powers at bay. I could only do this with his extreme cooperation…and I was able to lower his powers so he wasn't so much of a threat to himself…you must understand that merely thinking something in Spekkio's old form meant that objects utter destruction…"   
  
"Then why can't you just open the seal, have him take care of Matzu and then seal him back up again?" Magus asked curiously.   
"If I open the seal Spekkio will get the true feeling of what his powers are, and no amount of willpower could keep anyone from wanting to rule the universe with the kind of power that he has. I couldn't seal him again and we'd just have an unspeakable entity tossing events in time around like blocks."   
The heroes all looked at each other as Crono stood up.   
"How are we supposed to fight this guy if he's as powerful as you say he is? If he can control time what will stop him from freezing us in time before killing us?"   
Gaspar smiled…   
"You have the Time Gurus blessing…he can not distort your time fields."   
"We need to go find this Matzu guy before he does something insane!" Crono demanded.   
"Now now now..." Gaspar said quickly.   
"I thought you of all people would take this matter slowly, you can't just run into battle against someone who's stronger than lavos... you have to go and find the 'Callers'."   
Crono looked to Marle and then back to Gaspar.   
"Callers? Who...or what are those?" Magus asked...he'd never heard of 'Callers' before.   
"Callers are special magician elites...each specialized in an element. There is one for earth, fire, ice, shadow, lightning, water time and space. Each of you must gain the 'Callers' blessing to become skilled in each of these elements."   
"I never heard of these 'Callers' before old man..." Magus said in disbelief.   
"Your mother had to banish them to their own times shortly after you were pulled in with me and the other gurus...their powers were far too great and they were beginning to stand against her, except for the caller of time, who helped her banish them each to a separate era before Zeal backstabbed her and sent her off to her own era as well."   
Gaspar looked to Magus.   
"You have a head start, you already have Shadow, Fire, Lightning, Ice and Water. You still need to learn and master the magicks of Earth, Time and Space though."   
Magus grunted and walked to the other side of the room slowly.   
"Since I have closed all the gates your only mode of transportation would have been the Epoch... but I thought up something to help."   
Gaspar looked back to the bucket.   
"This is the one gate that I can change at will...it no longer leads to 1999 AD...I will change it to the first Caller location that you should go to, and continue changing it as you all acquire the Caller's blessings. Only after you receive their blessings can you fight Matzu on his level...until then its more of a suicide mission than fighting lavos bare handed..."   
Glenn looked around at his comrades, surely this was a mission that needed his attention...even more so than the queen.   
Crono silently unsheathed his rainbow sword.   
"Eight different callers...all in different times?" He asked.   
"Yes...a couple of them in times you've already been to...although most of them are in different years than the ones you went to." Gaspar explained.   
"I see..." Crono silently looked at his rainbow sword...the blade changing colors before him.   
"We don't have time to be sitting around!" Magus barked suddenly.   
Glenn turned with a menacing snarl, hand on the Masamune's hilt.   
"You watch your tongue!" Glenn demanded.   
"That's enough from the both of you! You fight like children!!" Gaspar scolded.   
"I know i need to help, but who will watch Kid?" Lucca asked in a concerned tone.   
"I can watch her, and Spekkio can help...he's actually great with kids..." Gaspar said, his voice livening up near the end.   
Crono sheathed his blade again as he looked around to everyone.   
"This might be the hardest battle we've ever faced...it might make lavos look like a walk in the park...so I'm letting you all know if you want to walk out...I won't think any less of you."   
Crono looked around...   
"Crono need Ayla! Ayla strong! Ayla no leave Crono!" Ayla declared.   
"Indeed...the queen is indeed important, but she will forgive me for such an action knowing that the world is at stake." Glenn said.   
"I have things to get done, and if meeting those callers helps, then I'll do them...but not for any of you." Magus grunted.   
"The future is looking brighter every day...and I want to keep it that way...I will fight with you!" Robo announced.   
  
Crono looked to Marle.   
"My love...when you fight...I will fight with you. We shall be together always...until the end. That I promise." Marle slowly wrapped her arms around Crono's neck as she kissed him on the lips, gently caressing his tongue with hers as she held him tightly. She finally pulled back as Crono turned to Lucca, who was blushing at the sight of the two.   
"Well, if you promise to stop kissing like that while I'm around!" Lucca laughed.   
Crono turned back to Gaspar.   
"Alright old man...show us the way!" Crono stated.   
They were ready to do it again, defenders of time, keepers of peace...the chosen seven were out on another adventure...an adventure that would be like no other.   
*   
There are eight of them as I've mentioned..." Gaspar continued.   
"Each in their own time era...the first one I'd recommend is 65,000,000 BC...Ayla's time."   
Ayla looked around...surprised.   
"Ayla home have magic?! Ayla see this fast!" She exclaimed as she ran towards the bucket and was warped to 65,000,000 BC.   
"Well...wai..." Gaspar sighed.   
"For those of you who stuck around the 'Caller' in Ayla's time is Sherkal...the 'Caller' of Earth. She can be found near where Lavos landed, somewhere around that crater Sherkal has set up an underground lair of some sort. Go there and claim the magic of earth...and then come back to me." Gaspar said as he drifted into his usual slumber.   
"I will be taking Marle and Lucca in the Epoch..." Crono stated.   
"Very well..." Glenn said.   
"Robo, myself and Magus shall go through this gate to get to Ayla's home."   
Magus turned to the old man.   
"Where does this bucket drop us off exactly Gaspar?" Magus asked.   
"The same place the old gate did..." Gaspar said with a yawn as Robo, Magus and Glenn all entered the gate and Lucca, Marle and Crono ran toward the Epoch.   
"I CALL SHOTGUN!" Marle shouted obnoxiously.   
Lucca stuck her tongue out.   
"There is no shotgun in the epoch...unless your flying it!" Lucca said snobbishly.   
"Oh...yeah." Marle giggled and hopped in the back seat with Lucca.   
"All right ladies, here we go!" Crono declared as they blasted to 65000000 BC.   
Matzu sat in his realm silently...his thoughts racing around his head about times and people of long ago...and trying to think of a way to overcome that damned guru Gaspar.   
~He can't keep me out forever...~ Matzu thought with a growl.   
He stood and walked a few steps before turning and waving his hand, the chair dissipating into nothingness.   
~And yet the fact that he's able to keep me out is wonder enough...~   
Matzu paced back and forth...   
~I don't understand...I control space and time as the humans know it...~   
Then suddenly the idea struck him...   
~The Callers!~ he yelled in his head.   
~Why didn't I think of it before...the only one with more power over time than Gaspar would have to be the caller of time...but what was their name?~   
He pondered and puzzled as he walked around, trying to recall a name from a memory that spanned eons was not an easy thing to do.   
Finally he gave up.   
~Oh well...~ he thought with a menacing smile.   
~I shall find that person...in time.~ And as he realized his pun he chuckled and waves his hand, opening a gate to begin his search.   
*   
The epoch appeared in a blinding flash of light followed by a thunderclap...they were floating above Ayla's village...   
"Well, there's Ayla's home...the gate would lead the others to the mountain back there..." Lucca pointed towards the mountain behind them and they flew over, landing at the start of the trail.   
"They should be here by now..." Crono said.   
"I'm sure they're just getting reacquainted with the land...or maybe Ayla ran off into the woods again..." Marle chuckled.   
*   
The reptites stood around Ayla in a circle...baring their fangs as they hissed and made short lunges towards her before peeling back.   
"Ayla don't have time to play! Ayla need to help Crono!" Ayla shouted.   
"Foolish woman, who said any of us were playing?" A reptite from the shadows said huskily.   
"Ayla remember that sound..." She said with amazement.   
"You should..." The shadowy figure replied...before stepping into the light.   
"AZALA?!" Ayla cried.   
Indeed, before her stood the king of the Reptites, Azala. Who was thought to be dead after the lavos impact a few years earlier...instead he was just horribly scarred.   
"You thought you had gotten rid of me...but I was able to have my men take me to your land and into the woods where I was able to heal...and now I'm slowly gaining back the power I had before you filthy hairless apes showed up." Azala growled with frustration.   
"No matter, soon my forces will be ready to make an attack on your remaining villagers..." Azala smiled, his talons coming out of his fingertips as he grimaced.   
"...thanks to this recent cold weather the hairless apes have gotten weaker...even you're not in top shape Ayla..." Azala said with a confident air.   
Ayla shot a spiteful glare towards Azala.   
"Ayla no need to be in top shape to beat you!" Ayla spat.   
"So confident..." the reptite king said. "...yet so foolish."   
He smiled and leapt towards Ayla, talons extended... 


	3. Sherkal

Magus, Glenn and Robo all fell out of the gate and landed on one knee.   
They all took a minute to look around and get re-set to their surroundings.   
"Ok...Ayla probably went ahead and met Crono and Lucca and Marle at the entrance...I say we head there." Glenn said firmly.   
Magus laughed.   
"Are you really so slow that you didn't even notice those?" Magus said pointing to the ground with a light chuckle.   
Glenn was shocked to see dozens of footprints...all looking reptile-like.   
"The reptites..." Glenn thought aloud.   
"Bingo." Magus said cruelly. "Are you always so quick to notice things?" He mocked.   
"Maybe not all the time, but I am always quick with my blade, and if you wish we can see who's faster." Glenn said with a threatening tone.   
"That's enough from the both of you..." Robo said decisively.   
Magus and Glenn each looked to Robo.   
"Obviously Ayla, or all of them are in trouble and we have to do something. Fighting like babies won't solve anything."   
Robo turned and faced the direction where the prints were heading...and began to walk.   
Glenn and magus followed robo for a while...passing Ayla's village and going to the coast...a bridge laid out in front of them.   
Glenn and Magus each saw what was ahead and they thought   
~This can't be a good thing...~ as they stared up at the pitch black castle, almost exactly like the one that was destroyed near the volcano.   
Suddenly crossing the bridge to the castle towards the heroes were over a dozen elite reptite warriors...   
"Looks like we're gonna have some fun out here after all..." Glenn said with a smirk as he unsheathed his Masamune.   
Magus laughed taking out his Doom Sickle and Robo charged his gears and readied his fists.   
"Let's go!" Glenn shouted with excitement.   
*   
"Something's not right..." Crono said as he turned to the mountain trail.   
They had been waiting about an hour...and the longest it should have taken was 30 minutes...this was time they could not waste.   
"You're right...they have been gone for a while...we should go up after them." Marle said softly.   
Crono looked to Lucca.   
She nodded in agreement.   
"Alright then..." He said decisively, unsheathing Rainbow.   
"...Let's go." Marle finished as she took out Valkyrie, smiling at Crono.   
Lucca loaded her Wonder Shot and they took off running down the mountain trail.   
*   
Azala leapt towards Ayla talons first, attempting to shred through her body, she rolled to the left, pushing up into the air she triple kicked a nearby reptite into a tree, cracking his neck and turned. Jumping up and flipping over Azala she landed and sweep-kicked two more reptites and as they fell back she grabbed them by the chest and threw them into a rock wall. One of them got caught on a sharp rock protruding from the wall and hung there.   
Ayla turned and barked fiercely   
"AYLA WILL NOT LOSE!!"   
And to that, the remaining reptites turned and ran back to the castle...except for Azala.   
"I see you haven't gotten any weaker..." He said, somewhat impressed.   
"Then again...you haven't gotten any stronger either! I on the other hand..."   
Azala began reciting incantaions...Ayla knew what this meant.   
~Magic?! But how?!~ She thought.   
Just then Azala threw out his hand, the ground beneath Ayla shaking for a moment and just then she flipped out of the way, dodging a razor sharp earth spike by inches...she landed and slid. Standing she breathed deeply.   
"That's right...thanks to her I will soon have all the power I'll need to control you filthy apes!" Azala cried.   
~Her?~ Ayla thought.   
~Sherkal!!~   
Crono, Marle and Lucca came across the reptite footprints...and discovered three other distinct footprints.   
"They went that way!" Crono announced as they ran after the trail...passing Ayla's village they saw something that struck them all with shock.   
Azala's castle...rebuilt.   
"I thought he was dead!" Lucca exclaimed.   
"We dont have time to worry about that now...look!" Marle pointed to three figures fighting in the distance.   
It was Magus, Robo and Glenn all fighting off Reptites.   
"Let's get moving!" Crono ordered as he ran ahead.   
Marle ran along behind Crono noticing Lucca staying behind.   
"You guys go on ahead, I can pick them off from here..." She said through her sightscope.   
Marle nodded and smiled, then ran after Crono again.   
*   
Magus turned and saw Crono and Marle coming, with Lucca in the back.   
"Its about time you got here!" He snarled as he spun, slashing a reptite across the chest and then kicking him back into another reptite...casting black hole to engulf them both.   
"It looks like your handling yourself quite well!" Crono said as he jumped into the air, bringing his Rainbow sword down onto a reptite's head, splitting them in half. Then jumping back he spun around slicing 4 more reptite's stomachs open.   
"Even so, its always better to have more!" Glenn said breathlessly as he flipped backwards...holding out his hand as he cast Lightning 2, 5 of the reptites being shocked he charged faster than the wind, bringing his blade around too fast to see...and sheathed it. Instantaneously the 5 reptites fell to pieces.   
Suddenly everyone fell quiet as they felt the earth shake for a moment...and then again...and again.   
"She comes...she who calls the earth her home..." one of the reptites stammered as they all ran.   
The six heroes stood their ground as a petite figure stepped out of the shadows of the castle...slowly crossing the bridge towards them...   
Crono's eyes widened.   
"I...think that's....Sherkal."   
The woman stepped out from under the shadows and continued to walk slowly towards them, she was wrapped in a brown cloak that ran down her body all the way to her feet and dragged behind her.   
Crono,Marle,Lucca,Magus,Robo and Glenn all stared as the figure of myth in their minds grew nearer.   
"Is it really her?" Glenn asked in wonder.   
"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out..." Crono said with a tinge of fear.   
Finally the woman got about twenty feet away from the heroes and stopped.   
"What brings you here strangers?!" She demanded...bringing her hands up to unsnap her cloak she tossed it aside revealing a beautiful robe of silver and gold...and on her left shoulder was a small insignia.   
"Sherkal...Master of the Earth...Generation V" Magus read from the distance.   
Sherkal smiled.   
"Good boy...you seem to know your stuff. Now where is it you all come from?"   
Where they all came from...that would be interesting.   
"Well...I come from 1000 AD...as do my two friends here Marle and Lucca." He said as he pointed them out respectively.   
"I'm from 600 AD." Glenn said.   
"I come from 2300 AD." Robo announced.   
Magus snarled.   
"I came from 12000 BC...from Zeal." He said menacingly.   
Sherkal's eyes widened as she realized who these people were.   
"You...are Gaspar's chosen?" Sherkal asked in amazement.   
"Yes we are..." Crono confirmed.   
Sherkal smiled.   
"Good, than this might prove to be somewhat entertaining!" She exclaimed as she threw her hands out and the earth around and under her shot up rocketing her up into the sky.   
"I have a much better view of your heads from up here! So that way its easier to crush them!" She exclaimed as she held out her hand a wave of razor sharp rocks came from above towards the heroes.   
Suddenly Ayla came flying out of nowhere and triple kicked the rocks into the ground nearby...she then landed on one knee.   
"AYLA!" Crono shouted.   
Ayla had been badly injured, she was bleeding from her left arm and scarred badly.   
"Crono...must destroy Earth woman. She grant Azala magic!" Ayla revealed.   
Everyone gasped and looked up to Sherkal.   
"That's right! I gave that filthy lizard magic...in exchange for having his men build me this wonderful castle!"   
"You couldn't have!" Marle exclaimed.   
"If you keep granting magic to people the flow of time will be ruined!   
Sherkal laughed and jumped down from her pedestal of earth, and at the same time unsheathing her Sais, landing on one knee she looked up.   
"I shall grant magic to whomever, whenever I please. I won't be taking orders from a sniveling girl!" She growled as she charged Marle, spinning around attempting to slash her face with the sai.   
Crono jumped towards marle and brought up his sword to block the slash, pushing with all his might set Sherkal off balance as she turned clumsily and threw out her hand attempting to stab Crono in the head.   
He quickly rolled to the side as everyone spread out to get some room.   
"I see why you were all chosen...I assume he's granted you magic as well...?"   
They all nodded silently.   
Sherkal smirked.   
"I see...so I guess I'll need to pull out all the stops!" She threw out her arms as the earth came up and consumed her...rocks building and building on top of her forming a huge rock like beast.   
"You won't beat me! I won't let you!" She declared.   
Crono looked up at the rock beast and sighed.   
~I knew this wasn't going to be easy...~ 


	4. Callers, Gurus and Elements

The rock beast brought its gigantic rock fist down towards the heroes as they scattered.   
Magus rolled backwards and leaped into the air, holding out his hand he casted lightning 2...the lightning simply raced along the beasts body and into the ground.   
Crono flipped to the side and landed on his right leg, pushing off of it he thrusted the Rainbow into the beast's side. The beast turned and brought its rocky fist across Crono's face, sending him flying backwards violently crashing into the ground and rolling a few times.   
Glenn turned and threw out his hand, casting water two as a wave of water poured over the rock beast..its solidity affected slightly it growled and threw out its own arm, tossing several large boulders towards glenn, he jumped up onto the first one and side flipped off that boulder to land on one knee...seeing Crono he mumbled a few incantations and held out his hands as a soft aura covered crono...healing his wounds.   
Ayla growled and triple kicked at the monsters chest, rocks coming off of it. Then ayla backflipped and attempted to throw it using her rock throw technique...but she failed.   
"Ayla not strong enough!" She said with amazement.   
"That's it!" Lucca said with a tinge of excitement.   
She turned to marle and glenn.   
"Quickly! Use your ice water attack!" She shouted.   
They both nodded as they closed their eyes...a bubble of water appearing before them as small slivers of ice filled it up, it floated above the beasts head and then drenched it with water followed by a sharp rain of ice-daggers.   
The beast growled and slowly began to melt...then suddenly began to solidify again.   
"Oh no!" Lucca exclaimed in panic.   
"Quick! Glenn...Crono! CRONO!" She cried.   
Crono was barely getting up.   
"Come on Crono! Do your Swordstream tech!" She commanded.   
Crono looked up and nodded weakly.   
Glenn summoned a bubble of water again as Crono leapt high into the air and brought his sword down...popping the bubble as water poured down the monster and his sword was able to tear through the seemingly unbreakable rock armor.   
The rock beast screeched sending Crono flipping backwards and skidding to a stop on one knee. The rocks were falling off of it now...its body turning to mud...Marle and Glenn continued to pummel it with water/ice tactics until nothing was left but a mud-covered Sherkal.   
"D...darn..." She coughed.   
The seven warriors walked up to her and surrounded her.   
"We've been sent by Gaspar to receive your blessing caller of earth...please grant us your earth magic." Crono asked softly.   
Sherkal stood shakily and nodded...holding out her hands a great circular dome of rock surrounded the 8 of them, sherkal and the seven heroes.   
"Close your eyes..." Sherkal mumbled as the heroes did so.   
"Grenthor wiknoth werkith orpan quertis nompes sharko Grenthor!" she chanted as the earth suddenly collapsed and began rotating around all of the heroes...small rocks and pebbles surrounded the heroes and spun around them wildly.   
Ayla's was different, the ground under her had risen a good three feet.   
"We have found the Earth elemental...you have all been granted with earth spells, but hers shall be different from all of yours." Sherkal announced.   
The others all nodded as they looked to Ayla.   
"One down..." Crono said.   
"Seven more to go."   
  
"I see now why Gaspar chose the seven of you...indeed you are unique among all the periods of time..." Sherkal muttered in disgrace as she stood slowly.   
"We have some questions for you Sherkal..." Crono said in a determined tone.   
"Why sherkal give Azala magic?! Sherkal know Azala kill humans!" Ayla shouted in rage.   
"No no no! It wasn't like that at all! I was looking for someone to bless with my powers. Holding the weight of all the earth magic in existance of the flow of time is a heavy burden indeed. I simply wanted to find a righteous individual to bless the power upon...Azala manipulated me and in return for building me this castle I granted him power of Earth."   
Lucca thought for a minute.   
"Hold on, how long have you existed in this dimension?"   
Sherkal sighed and shook her head.   
"I don't know for sure...all I remember is Zeal wanting to meet us in the main chambers...and the next thing I knew portals opened everywhere and all my comrades...Wendell the master of lightning, Prenthis the master of ice, Narkon the master of water, Quentor the master of fire, Anshal the master of space, Rendroth the master of shadow and Jarl the master of time."   
Glenn sighed.   
"And you have no idea where the others went?" Glenn asked.   
Sherkal shook her head sorrowfully.   
"Well at least now that Ayla has taken care of Azala we can continue with our journey...right Ayla?" Marle looked over to Ayla with a grin but was shocked to see Ayla actually on the brink of tears.   
"Ayla no defeat Azala. Ayla too weak...Azala too powerful!" Ayla cried in shame.   
Marle's grin faded, she knew how much honor Ayla had and how losing a battle, ever, could mean the end for her.   
Walking over slowly Marle embraced Ayla gently.   
"It's ok Ayla...we'll take care of it together." Marle said softly.   
Ayla sniffled and nodded gently.   
"Right...Crono help Ayla..." As she looked over to Crono hopefully.   
Crono nodded and smiled.   
At the same time Sherkal turned and began to walk away.   
"Where are you going woman?!" Magus declared with a scowl.   
"There is nothing left for me here...I shall go and hide away in the mountains...never to be disturbed again."   
"But...!" Lucca exclaimed suddenly, but was stopped by Crono's hand gently holding her shoulder.   
Lucca looked back as Crono shook his head.   
"Its not our decision to make Lucca...let her go."   
Lucca looked back to the woman shrouded in cloak and dropped her head as she dissappeared into the horizon.   
*   
Matzu sat in his realm silently...having just returned from another fruitless trip into the flow of time... he closed his eyes and thought back to that time long past…known as 12000 BC…the time of Zeal.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar all sat next to Matzu at a table sitting across from Queen Zeal and her son, Janus and daughter, Schala.   
"Janus…don't play with Alfred at the dinner table." Zeal scolded with a smile.   
"Yes mother…" the young boy said as he shooed the young cat away.   
"I'll play with you later Alfred…" he said in a sullen tone.   
Schala smiled as she cut a piece of her steak…the steam still coming off of it as she bit into it, the juice flowing out from the tender meat and onto her plate, she smiled as if the juice was tickling her taste buds.   
"This is excellent mother, we should have the cooks make this meal more often." Schala suggested with another bite.   
The Gurus all smiled as they were enjoying their meals as well.   
"So tell me Melchior…how does my kingdom fare this night?" Zeal asked biting into her broccoli.   
"Well m'lady…" he said with a smile.   
"Your people are all very satisfied with your excellent leadership, and even your mercy for the earthbound ones. The kingdom is doing excellently." Melchior concluded as he sipped from his silver chalice.   
The doors to the dining room suddenly swung open.   
"Queen Zeal! We've discovered something!" A royal guard shouted.   
"Excuse me…" Zeal apologized as she stood and walked calmly toward the guard.   
"Follow me m'lady…" he said as he walked down the hall leading her to the transportation room.   
*   
"Hmmm, I wonder what that was all about…?" Balthasar asked quietly.   
"Well, she has been awfully occupied recently with that "Legend" of a fallen creature from heaven." Gaspar answered.   
Matzu shook his head.   
"I think they found the 'Legend'…" Matzu said picking up a piece of warm bread and biting into it.   
The three other gurus looked to him in awe.   
"What do you mean they found the 'legend'?" Melchior asked.   
"That horrible power that they uncovered today…it will spell disaster for all of us…the queen has opened Pandora's box…god help us…" Matzu got up abruptly and walked out the door…obviously livid.   
Janus held Schala gently.   
"Gaspar…what's wrong with Matzu?" Schala asked.   
"Don't worry honey, I'm sure he's just mad because he didn't find it first." He said with a smile and a wink.   
Schala smiled, but she wasn't completely reassured, because she also was feeling like something was wrong…something deep and troubling in her gut that she just couldn't shake.   
"This is incredible!" Zeal said with delight upon witnessing the creature.   
The 8 callers stood behind Zeal in a row…   
Sherkal, Wendell, Prenthis, Narkon, Quentor, Anshal, Rendoth and Jarl.   
These eight were elite magicians who had been trained since they could stand to manipulate the many elements of the world.   
~These magicians are Zeal's main offense and defense when it comes to attacks from creatures not of the enlightened ones or even below those wretched earth dwellers.   
Now that I have this however…that will all change.~   
"We are trying to research its energy source and where it came up with all this power…once we isolate its core energy source we should be able to tap into it and grant Zeal the greatest powers in the galaxy." One of her scientists said.   
Zeal didn't care about her kingdom anymore…the darkness that was Lavos soon consumed her heart and soul…leaving nothing but a shell of a once warm, caring leader and leaving behind a heartless, cold blooded creature ready to slaughter and elminate all who would stand in her way…   
Matzu headed back to his chambers and closed the door behind him with a wave of his hand…sitting down on his bed he went over all the possibilities and outcomes for the kingdom of Zeal.   
~The queen is a great public figure, but she's of weak character…she's easily corrupted. Such power as Lavos will corrupt her entirely…nothing will be left of the old Zeal to hold on to…~ Matzu cursed himself as he stood suddenly.   
"I have to stop her…" he told himself as he walked out the door slowly.   
*   
After witnessing the great power of Lavos the eight callers were walking down a hallway in the palace, discussing the evil they had witnessed. Each of them wore a brightly colored robe in association with their element…   
Sherkal wore a long, light brown cloak. Wendell wore a long white robe. Prenthis wore a long dark blue robe and Narkon wore a long light blue robe. Quentor wore a red robe and Anshal wore a black one. Finally, Jarl wore a gray cloak that dragged behind him gently.   
"Surely the queen isn't going to try and harness that!" Rendroth declared angrily.   
"It seems that the queen wishes for unlimited power…" Jarl commented dryly.   
Sherkal looked over her brethren and stopped for a moment.   
"Now hold on a minute, we're talking about Queen Zeal here…the leader of this world…why would she want to endanger her people over this new creature?"   
The others simply chuckled…she was after all, the only female of the eight, and they never seemed to take her seriously…how she resented that is beyond verbal description.   
"If you were offered the greatest power in the galaxy dear Sherkal, I don't think even you would turn it down…" Prenthis said softly.   
Sherkal huffed impatiently and caught up with them walking swiftly with a touch of impatience.   
"No need for a temper Sherkal, it just makes sense is all, even the Gurus think so." Quentor said with a smug look on his face.   
Lowering his voice into a whisper Anshal quietly said   
"I heard Matzu isn't talking to the queen anymore because of what she did."   
The other seven gasped quietly.   
"Matzu?" Sherkal asked in awe, she had heard of this incredible Wiseman but she never had met with him face to face, it was rumored he had studied all the elements enough so that he proved to be a very powerful wizard and the queen's wisest, most respected confidant.   
Just then a dark figure leaning against a pillar took up and ran back to the queen's room…his mission had been accomplished.   
*   
"Those dirty mongrels were lying to me! I knew it! Those fools will pay for their insolence!" Zeal screamed in rage.   
"Bring them to me!" she shouted as she waved her hand in the direction of her guards.   
They nodded quickly and retreated quickly.   
*   
Matzu paced quickly down the hall and noticed a wave of elite Zeal guards surrounding the Callers.   
~What's going on?!~ he thought as he watched the elite guards use all their magic to restrain the callers and teleport out of the room.   
~darn!~ Matzu thought as he ran towards the chamber where Lavos was being kept…he had a feeling that they were heading there.   
The Eight had no idea what to do…before they could do anything they were before Zeal and her monstrous new pet Lavos.   
"Hello my little traitors…"   
"Traitors?!" Jarl growled.   
"Yes…" she said with a scowl. "…traitors."   
"I demand to know what's going on right now Zeal!" Wendell yelled, his body beginning to teem with electricity.   
"I wouldn't recommend any rash actions…" said softly motioning towards her elite, their staffs held ready towards the callers.   
"I'm afraid I can't have you traitors dirtying my perfect kingdom…" Zeal's smile became a menacing grimace that would've sent chills down the fiercest demons' spines.   
She gave the orders and the portals opened, and the callers disappeared into nothingness.   
Matzu ran into the room a little too late...the callers already were being sucked into the vortexes of time and being dragged into realms unknown.   
"ZEAL!" He screamed as he ran in unsheathing his blade.   
"You fool! How dare you enter my chambers without my permission!" she screamed in rage as she motioned to her elite to handle the problem.   
Matzu held out his hand as one of the elite was frozen solid and he spun, slashing at it as it shattered into thousands of pieces. With a quick movement he threw a dagger at another's head as it dug in deep into the elite's skull and he fell to the floor, a pool of blood forming underneath him.   
Matzu growled, all the suppressed anger and fury under Zeal coming loose, like a hellish power set free.   
With a wave of his hand an incredible explosion incinerated the remaining elite as he walked towards Zeal and Lavos slowly.   
"You....you filthy mongrel! You destroyed my elite corps!" Zeal cried in shock.   
"That's right you darn B***h...and now it's your turn..." he said coldly as he pointed his sword at her.   
Zeal began to laugh.   
"Fool...you compare the skills of my elite corps to myself? The power you're facing is unlike any you can possibly fathom... and with lavos to help focus my energy...I can dispose of vermin like you in a blink!"   
Lavos opened its mouth slowly as an energy began to form and Zeal began to mumble...a portal opening up above Matzu and Lavos loosing a beam of energy at the same time, the two energies creating a separate realm for Matzu...an infinite prison for him to dwell in through the flow of time.   
Matzu let out a scream as he was pulled into the vortex...   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
And then he woke up...   
"Dammit...I need to find that caller of Space...where the hell could he be?" Matzu cursed himself for not paying attention to every second of time as it passed beneath him.   
Matzu took a deep breath.   
"No need to stress out...I'll find him and then I'll make my way past the end of time, and gain the immortality I deserve!"   
Matzu laughed long and hard as the shadows covered him and he dissappeared into his realm again   
Crono turned to the rest of the warriors.   
"Alright...we passed the first Callers test...now we need to go back to Gaspar's and find out the next Caller's location..."   
Glenn, Ayla, Magus, Lucca, Marle and Robo all nodded, until Ayla brought something up.   
"But what about Azala?" she cried desperately.   
Crono slapped his forehead.   
~I can't believe I forgot about that!~ he thought to himself.   
Magus chuckled.   
"I can't believe you forgot about that Crono..." he said with a sneer.   
Crono gave him a look of disbelief...ready to comment, but didn't have the energy to start a fight with Magus.   
"Right...we'll take care of Azala first...then we'll head back to Gaspar..."   
Robo spoke up quickly.   
"Crono, wouldn't it be wiser if you went on with a couple of us while the rest of us went on back to Gaspar's and continued with the mission?"   
Crono smiled.   
"That's a great idea robo! Very well...I'll take..."   
"Crono no leave without Ayla!" Ayla cried as she ran up to him.   
Crono chuckled.   
"Very well...I'll take Ayla and.....Marle." Crono said with a smile.   
"Figures..." Magus snarled.   
Marle giggled and walked over to Crono turning to the four remaining warriors.   
"You guys head back to the end of time and Gaspar and go on to the next caller...we'll follow after you when we're done here."   
The four other heroes, Robo, Glenn, Lucca and Magus all nodded silently as Glenn walked up to Marle and took her hand gently.   
"Be Careful m'lady..." he said...his eyes growing soft with worry.   
Marle giggled.  
"Don't worry Glenn...I'll be fine..." she said as she sent him off to follow the others, hearing magus call from ahead...   
"I have the front seat!"   
Marle turned to Crono.   
"Are you guys ready?" he asked.   
Ayla nodded excitedly.   
"Ayla ready! We make Azala have big hurt! Right Crono?"   
Crono chuckled.   
"Yes Ayla...we'll make Azala have a big hurt..."   
Marle's face became quite serious as she looked towards Azala's tower, which loomed over them like a bad dream she loaded her crossbow.   
Crono got his Rainbow Sword ready as Ayla growled low in her throat.   
"Let's go..." Crono said as they charged towards the tower.   
*   
Lucca piloted the Epoch as Magus sat next to her...Glenn sitting in robo's lap in the back seat.   
"Hmmpf...next time have Magus sit in Robo's lap..." Glenn whined.   
"Oh stop it you big baby...or else I'll cast a black hole on you both..." Magus scowled.   
Glenn growled.   
"Why you...!" as he struggled to attack Magus.   
"WOULD BOTH OF YOU PLEASE STOP?!" Lucca yelled.   
The cabin fell into an eery silence.   
"Sorry Lucca..." Glenn muttered, ashamed.   
Magus didn't say sorry, but he wasn't feeling like the best guy in the world either.   
Finally they arrived at the end of time, leaping out of the epoch Lucca ran up to Gaspar.   
"We got Sherkal's blessing Gaspar!" she said breathlessly.   
The old man's eyes shone with a tinge of pride.   
"That's great news young one..." Gaspar looked around at the Magus, Robo, Glenn and Lucca.   
"Where are Crono and the others?"   
Lucca sighed.   
"They have some business to attend to back in Ayla's time...and we've been sent to continue onward...so do you have any more locations on the Callers?"   
Gaspar smiled.   
"Yes..I've located four more...Wendell, the master of lightning, is in the year 1995 AD. Prenthis, the master of Ice...is located in 5000 BC, Narkon, the master of water, is in   
500 AD...and is in the underground city of Atlantica...but I think the epoch can handle that. Finally Quentor, the master of fire, is in 1980."   
Lucca smiled.   
"Thanks Gaspar! Now...to decide which one to go to..."   
Lucca stood there for a moment, pondering which course they should take, when Glenn stepped up gently behind her.   
"M'lady...I believe that if we went to Wendell that would be the best course of action..."   
Lucca turned to Glenn.   
"Why would you say that Glenn?" She asked with a tinge of interest.   
"Well, seeing as how he is one who wields lightning, perhaps my water magic will be more effective against him..."   
Suddenly Glenn heard Magus chuckle from behind him.   
"Your puny bubbles wouldn't do much damage against any kind of enemy, only my shadow magicks are of real use in combat..."   
Glenn turned and scowled at Magus.   
"These spells of mine did enough to help take you down in combat...or would you rather I slay you with the Masamune?"   
Magus growled back to him in return when suddenly Gaspar snorted and looked to the two arguing heroes.   
"That's enough you two...get going to 1995 AD...that's just four years before Lavos is supposed to attack..."   
Robo smiled, well as much as a robot could.   
"Finally! I'll be able to see my masters again! What fun!" Robo ran towards the epoch.   
"I call front seat!" He shouted.   
Magus and Glenn looked to each other with dread.   
~This is going to be a looooong flight...~ Glenn thought as he marched slowly towards the Epoch.   
*   
Ayla, Crono and Marle looked over Azala's rebuilt castle.   
"It still looks as splendid as before..." Crono said quietly.   
"Ayla no care! Ayla make Azala pay for shame he cause...!"   
Marle giggled and gave an encouraging thumbs up.   
"That's right, he won't know what hit him!"   
Crono walked towards the door slowly, lifting his Rainbow sword over his head he leapt into the air, bringing the sword down hard, executing his "Spincut" technique, the door fell inward in two pieces...and reptites came out in the dozens.   
Ayla screamed in rage and leapt forward, performing a triple kick she knocked a good six reptites out of the game as Crono leapt into the air.   
"Marle! Now! Ice Sword 2!" he yelled.   
Marle nodded as she closed her eyes...murmuring gently she sent a blue light to encompass Crono's blade as he struck true upon ihs enemy...a block of ice forming around the enemy as he began to run around it, slicing it up and down, side to side until the ice exploded with great force, sending sharp shards of it towards the enemies in all directions, getting rid of many more of them.   
Ayla backflipped off of her last kick and landed on one knee, standing she turned and slammed a reptite in the face with her right fist.   
Suddenly, she felt her powers growing inside of her. She closed her eyes...her world lost all light, now there was only sound, her body teemed with the newly given powers of earth as her world filled with action, and yet simplicity. She was filled with waves of sluggish energies that were not heard, but felt as she opened her eyes again, reborn with a new sense of determination and trust in her own powers.   
"Ayla show you a new trick!" She yelled as she stared down the dozens of reptites. Surely they hadfeared this hairless ape before but this new look of hers took it to a level beyond their comprehension.   
"TERRA SMASHER!!" She screamed as she launched herself into the air and came back down, fist first, into the ground sending a wave of razor sharp daggers of earth towards the remaining reptites.   
Many of them tried to run, but it was no use, for the daggers of earth tore through their skin nonetheless.   
Ayla stood, amazed at her new powers as Crono and Marle looked to each other.   
Crono looked back to Ayla.   
"Ayla...are you ok?" Crono asked quietly.   
Ayla smiled and turned.   
"Ayla more than ok...Ayla better than ever!" Ayla then turned and ran towards the stairs...where more dangers awaited them.   
Suddenly she saw three staircases...one on the left, right and middle.   
"Crono? Which should we take?   
  
Crono looked back to Marle   
"Which way should we go Marle?"   
Marle stepped forward and looked to each stairway...first the right one, then the center one, and then finally the left one. She smiled lightly.   
"Let's head left..."   
Crono smiled and nodded and motioned for Ayla to lead the way.   
Ayla ran up the stairs quickly and headed towards the door, coming to a screeching halt when she saw someone she thought she'd never see again.   
*   
Glenn sat uncomfortably in Magus' lap and shifted slightly.   
Magus snarled and looked to him.   
"Would you please sit still?" Magus asked with a growl.   
Glenn turned back to him with a scowl and then leaned forward slightly to talk to Lucca.   
"How much longer?" he asked desperately.   
"About 20 more minutes...just relax back there ok?"   
Magus straightened up slightly, causing Glenn to tip over and hit his head on the back of Lucca's seat. Glenn turned to punch Magus in the face but Magus caught his fist as they stared each other down.   
"Filthy amphibian..." Magus snarled.   
"THAT'S ENOUGH FROM THE BOTH OF YOU!" Lucca screamed as the two fell silent and looked away from each other like school children.   
*   
"NIZBEL?!" Ayla asked in amazement.   
Nizbel stood before them, flexing his massive muscles the well-built reptite snarled at the three of them.   
"Azala told me you would be coming, I was hoping that he was kidding around...but I guess he wasn't. Don't worry though, I'm not letting you get out of here alive...especially since I've learned some new tricks..."   
Nizbel smiled and ran to Crono first, throwing out his massive fist he caught Crono on his left cheek and sent him flying into the wall next to him with a loud *thud*. Marle grimaced and fired a few arrows from her crossbow at Nizbel, one of them piercing his chest as he growled and reached for the Arrow, pulling it out quickly.   
"You filthy ape..." he growled as he leapt into the air and came down hard, sending a wave of earth towards Marle, sending her off balance and causing her to fall back and hit her head on the wall.   
Ayla looked to her friends and then back to Nizbel, her eyes filled with a fiery rage as she flexed her muscles and leapt towards Nizblel with lightining speed...pushing off of one leg she rocketed towards Nizbel and executed her triple kick technique...hitting him in the chest, the left cheek and finally pushing off the second kick into a backflip she kicked him as hard as she could on his right cheek, sending him spinning and falling to the ground...hard.   
Backflipping off of her final kick she landed on one knee.   
Standing slowly she looked to Nizbel, who was sprawled across the floor.   
"That too easy..." Ayla smiled confidently.   
Suddenly nizbel chuckled and got up slowly...tilting his neck left cracking a few bones, then right...smiling at Ayla.   
"Round two..."   
Nizbel ran towards her and threw a punch at her stomach, Ayla rolled out of the way and pivoted, pushing off her back foot to fuel the strong punch she sent straight for Nizbel's head.   
Nizbel held out his hand and caught Ayla's hand, spinning her around rapidly he sent her flying towards the rugged rock wall in front of them.   
Ayla saw the wall approaching fast and knew that if she didn't do something drastic the fight would be over before it even started...she closed her eyes and searched her mind for more of her recently unlocked power, and smiled as she found what she was looking for.   
"Terra shield!" She yelled quickly before hitting the wall, and instead of splattering against it with a series of cracks and snaps as Nizbel expected she hit the wall and instantly backflipped off of it onto one knee and stood...facing Nizbel.   
"Round Three..." Ayla said with a grin.   
*   
"We're here!" Lucca shouted as they all leapt out of the Epoch, gazing in wonder at this Brave New World.   
A huge dome encompassed the large buildings and peoples of these cities and cars hovered over 12 inches off the ground.   
"What magic is this? That they float over the ground with their strange vehicles..." Magus said with a snarl.   
Lucca looked to Magus and smiled.   
"What would you call the Epoch then?"   
Magus scoffed and looked around.   
Glenn turned to Lucca.   
"Where are we to find this Wendell character?"   
Lucca smiled.   
"I did a little research on the trip over...he has to be in one of the following three places:   
1) Miranda Computer Labs   
2) Shintoki Forensic Labs   
3) Nerthtok Weather Labs   
Where should we head first guys?"   
  
"Let's head over to Shintoki Forensic Labs guys...we should find somethiing interesting there at least..."   
the others nodded silently as they followed Lucca down the street towards a huge building, it was like a huge black monolith in the middle of the beautiful city...the sun reflecting off of its tinted windows as the four headed towards the main entrance...not knowing what to expect...   
*   
Ayla leapt at Nizbel and saw that Crono had awoken, shaking his head slightly as she planted a hard kick to the side of Nizbel's head.   
"Crono! Help Ayla with Nizbel!"   
Crono nodded, he knew exactly what to do as he closed his eyes and murmured, a light aura surrounding him as he held out his hands.   
"VOLT BITE!" (Crono/Ayla:Lightning/Single Target he screamed as a blast of lightning came from the sky and filled Ayla's body with electric energies as she leapt at Nizbel and ravaged him with fierce bites and attacks, leaving him weakened from the lightning, poised for a beautiful finish, and of course, Ayla would like nothing better.   
She closed her eyes, searching for the perfect technique to do so...and was thrilled with the result she got as she smiled and opened her eyes.   
"Crono...Ayla have new trick...you help me...yes?"   
Crono smiled and nodded.   
"What do you want me to do?"   
Ayla smirked.   
"Big lightning storm...make lightning everywhere...Ayla take it from there..."   
Crono nodded, kind of interested in what she was about to do.   
He murmured a few words and threw his hands up into the air, Auras surrounding himself and Ayla as the lightning came from above, striking all around, and on Nizbel as Ayla chuckled and leapt into the air.   
"Chaotic Fist!" Ayla shouted as she drove her fist into the ground as she came down and underneath Nizbel appeared the form of Ayla's hand, only completely made of rock, the lightning went into the hand and completely surrounded Nizbel before the Rock-hand closed with a series of sickening cracks and snaps, the sound of Nizbel's bones breaking as a blood curdling scream echoed through the room and blood ran freely down the rocks and onto the floor in a large pool.   
Crono ran over to Marle and gently lifted her off the ground.   
"Marle? Marle are you ok?"   
Crono began to shake her gently...blood ran from her mouth lightly...she had bitten her lip pretty badly, and had some pretty severe bruises.   
"Marle? Marle!"   
Suddenly Marle flinched...and looked to Crono.   
"What do you want you big oaf? I'm in pain ya know..." She smiled weakly at Crono.   
Crono smiled back, his eyes were beginning to tear up...   
"Then heal yourself, your majesty..." he chuckled lightly.   
Marle closed her eyes, a light aura surrounding her as her bruises healed over and her cut closing up...the blood still on her lip.   
Marle got up slowly.   
"Well...that was fun...I better be on my guard next time..."   
Ayla snarled and turned towards the door that led to the final plateau of the castle.   
"If we take Center stair first, we no need to fight Nizbel..."   
Ayla looked to Marle for a moment, and for the first time, bore a look of dissappointment and dare she say...anger?   
Ayla ran ahead towards where Azala was waiting no doubt, Marle and Crono following unsurely afterwards.   
*   
Slowly the four awkward heroes entered the building, instantly drawing all the attention in the room towards them.   
"What are these fools staring at?" Magus muttered impatiently.   
~How I would love to suck these pitiful fools into a black hole...~   
Lucca maintained herself and walked up to the main desk.   
"Excuse me...do you know if there is a Wendell here?"   
The receptionist took a minute to get over the other odd looking fellows.   
"Um..let me see..."   
The receptionist looked through the computer.   
"Ah...here it is...I can't believe I forgot...He's the vice president of this company..."   
Lucca frowned slightly.   
"Could you arrange for him to meet with us?"   
The receptionist gave Lucca an odd look.   
"You must be new...it takes anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks to actually get on Wendell's schedule...the actual meeting won't take place for a couple months..."   
Magus snarled and walked up to the desk and slammed his gloved hands onto the desk.   
"Listen you pathetic worm...we will see this wendell character...whether you like it or not...so either you show us the way, or we fight our way up...understand?"   
The receptionist shuddered, the figure's deep gazing eyes paralyzing her with fear, she was finally able to nod slightly.   
"Good...now show us where he is..."   
The receptionist stuttered   
"T..t...th...th...the 56th...f..f..f..floor..."   
Lucca looked around.   
"And how exactly do we get to the 56th f..f..f...floor?" Magus asked with a sneer.   
"The elevator..." the Receptionist said slowly...pointing behind her.   
The four looked to this strange contraption and headed towards it...the receptionist getting on the phone.   
"Tell Mr. Wendell there are some crazy freaks on their way up! Tell him now! 


	5. Meet Matzu

Ayla ran up and discovered a throne on the very top of the tower...the back facing her.   
She walked slowly around to the side as Crono and Marle ran up the stairs and made it just in time to see Azala looming over Ayla, like the grim reaper ready to scoop up its prey.   
"AYLA! LOOK OUT!" Marle screamed as Ayla looked up and rolled out of the way before Azala was able to attack her.   
Ayla slid and stood, looking to marle she smiled.   
"Thank you Marle! Ayla owe you!"   
Marle giggled, just glad that she wasn't mad at her anymore...   
Azala snarled and looked to the three of them.   
"You filthy hairless apes...I'll have you know that my powers have grown considerably since the last time we fought..."   
Marle sneered.   
"Yeah, and you've grown considerably uglier..."   
Azala chuckled at the child's attempt to insult him.   
"Oh yes, you were certainly the smart one, I remember now..."   
Azala took out a well-crafted Reptite spear...   
"This spear was made especially for me, from the great lady of the earth known as Sherkal...she was powerful, but also very naive..."   
Crono gripped the hilt of his Rainbow Sword tightly, ready to dive in and slice Azala in two...   
Azala spun the spear around and held it tightly in his left hand as he charged, stopping short he threw out his left hand, and the spear, creating a wave of sharp rocks directly in front of the spear that he aimed at Crono.   
Crono rolled to the left and charged, jumping into the air attempting a Spincut on Azala and as he came down, Azala held up the point of his spear, attempting to impale Crono's head.   
~$hit!~ Crono thought as he spun in mid slash, his sword knocking away the tip of Azala's spear as he landed sloppily...falling over he rolled a few times before standing up.   
Marle came into play now, firing a few rounds of her crossbow towards Azala...who simply laughed, making a gesture with his hand to bring up a wall of rock, which her arrows bounced off of effortlessly.   
~darn....~ she thought.   
~If only Glenn were here...he has the water magic...~   
Suddenly from behind Azala came a punishing kick...it was Ayla.   
Azala flew forward and slid against the ground roughly...finally getting up and turning throwing out his free hand to fire a small rock dagger at Ayla.   
Ayla couldn't move fast enough and the dagger hit her in the shoulder, tearing through sinew and bone it went clear through and stuck out the other side.   
Ayla let out a monstrous roar as Azala smiled with satisfaction.   
Crono and Marle both snarled fiercely, Marle turning and running towards Ayla to try and help get the rock dagger out while Crono leapt into action, slicing at Azala's chest.   
Azala brought up his spear to block the slash and spun, bringing the head of the spear towards Crono's side.   
Crono leapt back slightly and moved his free hand in a fluid motion as a lightning bolt came down and struck Azala, dizzying him for a second as Crono charged and headbutted him. Sending Azala reeling backwards...Azala recovered quickly and moved forward, lunging with his spear.   
Crono stepped to the side slightly, but it caused a small cut in his side, he winced slightly and moved inside of the window that Azala had just opened to get a firm grip of the spear with his free hand and give Azala a hard kick to the stomach at the same time, causing Azala to double over as Crono leapt up, kneeing him in the chin as Azala lost his grip of the spear. Crono threw it out the window located nearby.   
Azala snarled and got up slowly.   
"Filthy ape...you'll regret that..."   
Crono smiled.   
"I doubt it..."   
Meanwhile Marle finally yanked the rock out of Ayla's shoulder as she howled in pain.   
"shhh..." Marle said soothingly.   
"Just relax...I'll heal you."   
Marle murmured gently...a soft aura coming over Ayla as the massive wound closed slowly...it left a scar however.   
Ayla took a deep breath.   
"Thank you Marle. Ayla sorry..."   
Marle smiled gently and hugged her.   
"It's ok...let's just finish this and meet up with the others as soon as we can!"   
Ayla smiled and nodded, getting up quickly.   
Marle got ready too...all of them running to stand near Crono.   
Azala looked over the three hairless apes with a scowl.   
"darn you...I won't let you leave here alive!!" Azala screamed and threw his hands down, suddenly two swords made of rock came into his hands...the blades were razor sharp as he sliced at Crono's chest twice, once with each blade.   
Crono brought up his blade and blocked the first slash, pushing off of the force into a sideroll as Ayla leapt back into the action, planting a triple kick to the side of Azala's head. Azala flew straight into the rugged rock wall with a sickening crack.   
"Crono! Marle! We finish special now!"   
Crono and Marle looked at each other and nodded.   
"Final kick time!" Crono yelled as both he and Marle charged their energies and Ayla leapt into the air...preparing for her triple kick.   
The two energies flew from Crono and Marle and engulfed Ayla as she came down, pummeling Azala with her powerful kicks charged with the powers of lightning and ice...the first kick shattered his rib cage, the second breaking his left leg and the third crushing his windpipe as she backflipped off of the final kick, breathing deeply.   
"That's it..." Crono said softly, staring at Azala's lifeless corpse.   
"...we killed him..."   
  
Ayla panted and stood slowly...   
"Azala...no more fights...anymore..." she said breathlessly.   
"Yeah..." Marle agreed.   
Crono looked around and suddenly realized something.   
"We totally forgot about the others!" he exclaimed.   
Ayla and Marle jumped and turned to him.   
"We need to get to the gate as soon as we can! Lucca and the others will need our help to take on the next caller..."   
Ayla piped up.   
"We go to Mystic Mountain now!" Ayla replied.   
Ayla went to the window and whistled...suddenly three Dactyls came to the windows and each hopped on one flying straight for the Mystic Mountain.   
*   
Lucca, Magus, Glenn and Robo made it to the 56th floor and stepped out slowly...looking down the hall in both directions...   
"Nobody's here it seems..." Glenn said quietly.   
Suddenly from down the hall they heard a tremendous explosion and ran towards the source of the disturbance.   
*   
The three heroes Ayla, Crono and Marle all leapt off of the Dactyl at the "leaping" point.   
The gate opened slowly as the three warped to the end of time...   
*   
There was a sudden flash at the end of time as Gaspar was once again sleeping on the job.   
"Gaspar! Gaspar!" Crono yelled...Gaspar snorted and woke up.   
"What is it?" Gaspar asked impatiently.   
"We need to get to the others! Where did they go?"   
Gaspar blinked a couple times.   
"Oh..that's right...you weren't here..."   
Gaspar closed his eyes again.   
"Just use the bucket, and look for the fight...I'm sure Wendell has started something by now..."   
Crono looked to the bucket and smiled.   
"Thanks Gaspar!"   
The three ran to the bucket and made their way to 1995 AD.   
*   
Lucca peered into the room where the explosion came from and was amazed at what she saw.   
There, standing before her was a tall man, with lightning teeming all over his body, he was in a room surrounded by very fragile forensic evidence from long past crimes...and yet none of it was scathed...the figure turned to see Lucca...and became angry.   
"What are you doing here?!" The man asked viciously.   
Just then magus stepped foward, and Wendell immediately recognized him.   
"Janus? Prince Janus?" Wendell knelt before Magus.   
"Get up you fool...we came here to ask a favor..."   
Wendell nodded and stood slowly...just then another explosion was heard down the hall, followed immediately by a stampeding of feet.   
*   
Crono, Ayla and Marle found themselves in a hallway in the middle of a mysterious building. They immediately began running to go find the others.   
"Lucca? Robo? Glenn? Magus?" Crono called as he ran.   
"We're right here Crono!" Lucca called as she waved him towards the room.   
At last, the seven warriors were reunited.   
"What is it you wish Prince Janus?" Wendell asked humbly.   
"We want you to grant us your powers..." Magus said slowly.   
Wendell was obviously phased by the request.   
"What do you need my powers for m'lord? Do you not have enough on your own?"   
Magus gritted his teeth.   
"Of course I do! It's just that these others are with me and they need these powers to take on Matzu..."   
Immediately Wendell backed up.   
"You...you're going after Matzu?" he asked quietly.   
"Yes...now give us your powers so we can take care of him and move on.." Magus asked impatiently   
Wendell's face grew hard and frustrated.   
"You simply don't 'take care' of Matzu...and I won't let you use my powers to defeat him...he's a close friend of mine and I won't give up my powers without a fight!"   
Lightning filled the room suddenly as Wendell removed his labcoat...revealing a massive knight's sword.   
"Janus...you have changed...you are foolish to attempt to destroy Matzu! I shall spare you the horror of dying at his hand by destroying you here...and now!"   
Magus turned to the others.   
"The mission must continue...we can't afford to let this fail...I will stay behind...who else will help me take care of wendell and who will go back and move on to the next Caller?"   
Glenn spoke up first.   
"You may need my water magic and techniques..."   
Magus snarled.   
"Very well...one more person...the others will take the epoch to the next Caller."   
  
Lucca stepped forward.   
"I suppose I should stay with you two to make sure you don't kill each other..."   
Magus looked to Lucca with a scowl.   
"What...you think I"m lying?" Lucca asked putting her hands on her hips impatiently.   
Magus turned away from her.   
"I guess you have a point..." Magus agreed grumpily.   
Lucca smiled.   
"I'm glad you see it my way..."   
Lucca turned to Crono, Ayla, Robo and Marle.   
"You guys take the epoch, it's located a few blocks from here...take it to 1980...Quentor will be in that time frame...it's up to you to find him...you may want to drop by Gaspar first to see if he can give you any information on where Quentor might be..."   
Crono smiled and nodded.   
"That would be a good idea."   
Crono motioned to his comrades as they ran to his side.   
Ayla smiled.   
"Ayla can't wait...Ayla love fire!" she said with a menacing grin, her eagerness to fight this new foe almost matched by her insane expression.   
Crono chuckled...then stopped noticing Wendell standing ready with his blade.   
"We better get going, Wendell looks ready to fight right now..."   
Lucca turned, looking rather solemnly at Crono.   
"Remember, it's important that the plan follows through..."   
Crono nodded.   
"Come on guys...let's go!" Crono turned and ran down towards the stairs, Marle, Ayla and Robo following closely behind.   
Lucca smiled as she watched them leave and turned back to the matter at hand...Wendell.   
*   
Crono ran down the stairs as fast as he could...the stampeding sound of the three other pairs of feet, most noticably robo's, as they finally approached the front door.   
Crono snarled and leapt towards the door, busting through it, glass shattering and spreading along the ground like roaches retreating from the light.   
Robo, Marle and Ayla followed him quickly, as he turned and sprinted towards the Epoch.   
~Time...time is of the essence...why is it that I'm always fighting against something I can't see?~   
*   
Wendell growled lightly.   
"How do I even know you're the real Janus? Surely Janus knew better than to try and take on Matzu the Guru..."   
Magus snickered.   
"You're right, I'm not Janus anymore....my name is Magus. I lost my name the same day I lost my sister..."   
Wendell gasped.   
"I had no idea...her ladyship Schala as well?"   
Magus nodded solemnly...his eyes growing soft but for only a moment before lifting up his head, his face set into stone, his battle face on.   
"Do you still wish to fight us? Or will you grant us your powers?" Magus asked impatiently...holding out his hand he began murmuring gently gathering dark energies into his hand.   
"I shall grant you my powers...but you must earn them first..."   
Wendell smiled and held out his sword, the blade teeming and crackling with electricity and energy as he smiled.   
Magus unsheathed his Scythe, Lucca removing her Wonder Shot and Glenn unsheathing his Masamune...the scene was set as the second Caller had been revealed and threatened...and was ready to fight for the powers that they wanted so desperately.   
*   
Crono leapt into the Pilot's seat.   
"Ayla take seat next to Crono!" Ayla yelled in glee as she jumped up, suddenly being grabbed by the seat of her pants and yanked down.   
"Oh no you don't, he's my husband...I'll sit next to Crono!" Marle climbed up slowly...suddenly feeling a violent push she went in, head over heels landing roughly with her legs over Crono's.   
Crono blushed and gently pushed Marle's legs off of him.   
Crono yelled out to Ayla.   
"Just sit in Robo's lap for the ride over!"   
Ayla grumbled.   
"Ayla don't want to sit in Robo's lap...Ayla want Crono!"   
Ayla pouted and turned around, stomping like a child.   
~I don't have time to deal with this crap...~ Crono thought as he stood for a minute and yelled as loud as he could.   
"DAMMIT AYLA! GET YOUR PREHISTORIC @SS IN THIS SHIP NOW OR WE'RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU! UNDERSTAND?!"   
Ayla turned with a jump and ran on all fours towards the Epoch, leaping up she landed in Robo's lap and Crono shut the top grumpily...flipping a few switches they were gone in a flash and a thunderclap.   
  
Wendell looked to Lucca and gave her a quick look-over.   
"Who is this one that accompanies you Jan...I mean Magus?"   
Magus looked to Lucca.   
"It's a human...her name is Lucca...why does it matter?"   
Wendell stopped for a moment.   
"This one...her aura seems to give off a strange presence...it seems...so familiar..."   
Lucca was somewhat thrown off by Wendell's curiousity and snarled slightly.   
"What is it you're after? We don't have time to be playing these games..." Lucca didn't mean to be so rude...but she had better things to do than play the flirting game with a master of lightning...then again...Crono was a master of lightning now wasn't he?   
Wendell's face twisted into an angry scowl.   
"You certainly are an impatient, unfriendly bunch...you need to be taught some manners..."   
Wendell charged and stopped short, leaning forward with his leading leg he lunged at Magus' stomach.   
Magus leapt back a little bit, but lightning jumped off of Wendell's blade and surrounded Magus in an excruciating net of voltage that shocked him to the core of his being.   
Magus winced and was thrown back after the shock had finished...slamming into the nearby wall, he fell onto one knee, putting one gloved hand on the ground...   
Wendell looked to him and shook his head.   
"It's a shame...you aren't very skilled as far as magic..."   
Magus snarled.   
~Nobody puts me down like that...I don't care who the hell he is...nobody tells me whether I am or am not skilled in something...~   
Magus' eyes flashed a blood red as he stood quickly, turning he reached under his cape and threw a dagger at Wendell as Lucca fired a blast of her Wonder Shot and Frog muttering slightly...thinking he'd try out his own earth skills that were unlocked.   
Suddenly a jagged rock came hurdling towards Wendell at an amazing speed and surely it seemed like wendell was on the way to perdition as the sharp edge came towards him like a messenger from death and the shot coming towards him faster than the speed of sound...but luckily lightning is faster than sound as Wendell fired a blast of lightning towards both the flying rock and gunshot nulling them both in mid air before bringing his attentiong to the dagger that was heading straight for his face, quickly he brought up his hand and barely was able to catch the dagger before it slammed into his forehead...moving his hand and tossing the dagger aside he noticed Magus coming towards him at an amazing speed, head first as he was smashed in the face by Magus' brutal headbutt and sent reeling backwards.  
Crono piloted the Epoch silently, Ayla and Robo in the back seat.   
"You guys ok back there?" Crono asked quietly...Marle placing her hand gently on Crono's knee.   
Ayla grumbled.   
"Ayla uncomfortable...Me want to sit with Crono!"   
Crono growled.   
"Ayla, please...you're behaving like a child...we'll be at the End of Time soon enough..."   
Marle looked to Crono.   
"End of Time? I thought we were going to fight Quentor...?"   
Crono closed his eyes and nodded.   
"Yes, I know I said that but I think we need to go and see Gaspar and see what other information he might have for us...like the other Callers destinations."   
Marle and the others nodded knowingly, except for Ayla, who was still sulking in the back seat.   
*   
Wendell took a few sloppy steps back, looking to Magus with a rekindled hatred...and yet he still cared for him deeply, not wanting to send Magus in to die against Matzu.   
"Please Janus...you can't do this...Matzu is far too strong...even if you gathered all of the Callers powers, Matzu could still defeat you..."   
Magus snarled and charged again...swinging his scythe at Wendell's head.   
Wendell leapt back and came forward with a powerful upward swing, knocking Magus' scythe away as Magus went into a backroll, growling as he unsheathed another dagger.   
"Nobody tells me what i can or can't do...understand?"   
Wendell bared his teeth in anger.   
"Foolish boy! You would run into death so easily! Not even caring about rescuing your sister!"   
Magus stopped cold.   
"You....what did you say?" Magus asked silently.   
Wendell shook his head.   
"You are so busy chasing this Guru around that you forgot your pledge to find your sister? Surely you are a fool..."   
Magus now leapt to Wendell with such ferocity, such raw power that Wendell felt a chill shoot down his spine like a cold bolt of lightning.   
"Tell me where Schala is! Or so help me I will make your death legend..."   
Wendell gulped lightly.   
"I...do not know where she is...but I think that Anshal, the caller of space might..."   
Magus turned to the others.   
"We must find this Anshal!"   
Glenn stepped forward quickly.   
"Magus! Have you forgotten our mission? We are to..."   
Magus turned and screamed to Glenn in a rage that had never been shown before.   
"I HAVE FORGOTTEN MY OWN MISSION! MY OWN SISTER!"   
Glenn shrunk back, then realizing what exactly was at stake, leapt back at Magus with an equal verbal assault.   
"I'm sorry Magus...but the fate of the Universe is more important than your sister! And if Matzu wins, then you'll never be able to find your sister again...ever!"   
Magus was stung by the reality of the statement and held quiet for a moment.   
Wendell saw Magus turning and ran to the back of the room, slamming a button on the panel as suddenly the walls opened on either side and 12 Magus look-alikes came out in large tubes.   
Lucca gasped.   
"Oh my god...he's been using this place to breed an army of Magus'!"   
Wendell chuckled.   
"That's right, after arriving here I was quite distraught, I had no friends, no family, nobody to talk to...so I used my great intelligence and powers to help expand this forensics lab, where I used a sample of DNA to help make copies of Magus..."   
Magus stopped for a moment and turned to Wendell.   
"How did you get my DNA?"   
Wendell pointed at Magus' right arm.   
"Look there..."   
Magus looked and saw a small scar on his right arm.   
"When you were young, I scratched you with the tip of my blade on accident...little did I know that my sword's properties kept that small piece of flesh secure during those years...one day while entering my office it detected another strain of blood on me somewhere...and after searching for hours I discovered the small piece of flesh on the tip of my blade...which I then used to produce these wonderful clones."   
Magus, Lucca and Glenn all stood, completely in shock.   
The twelve Magus clones all stood in a line in front of Wendell.   
"Well Magus, this is for your own good..."   
Wendell waved his arm and sent the clones in a flurry of blades and magic.   
*   
Crono, Marle, Ayla and Robo got off at the End of Time...where they saw a horrifying sight.   
A tall man, wearing a black robe, his hood was pulled down and he turned to stare at them.   
Instinctively they knew...   
  
It had to be Matzu.  
Crono growled for a moment...   
"Matzu..."   
Matzu smiled...his purple hair hanging messily around his shoulders as his platinum eyes scanned the four newcomers to their conversation.   
"Well hello...Gaspar...are these the ones?"   
Gaspar mumbled something.   
"Magnificent...truly I can see why you chose them...so unique and colorful..." Matzu smiled.   
Ayla snarled.   
"This bad man that makes Ayla leave Kino? Ayla take care of man now!"   
Ayla leapt at Matzu in a rage, a very bad idea.   
Matzu held out his hand, expecting to freeze Ayla in a time shield, but forgetting they had the time gurus blessing, Ayla continued onward, unhindered and slammed Matzu across the face, sending him spinning to the ground with a grunt.   
Ayla smiled.   
"Man easy to beat...we run around for this?"   
Matzu growled and stood quickly...turning to Ayla who was going in for another hit, Matzu sidestepped and brought both of his fists down, hard, on the back of Ayla's neck.   
Her eyes bulged out with pain as she was sent to the ground with a sickening crack as Crono's and the others winced, feeling her pain almost.   
"Gaspar...you make sure these kids stay out of my way...I will be back to talk more about past the end of time, so do not worry..."   
Gaspar snarled slightly as Matzu dissappeared back into his realm.   
Then he turned to Crono and the others, who were gathered around Ayla.   
"Bring her to Spekkio...he can heal her..." Gaspar said quietly.   
*   
Magus brought up his scythe, blocking about three of the clones' slashes as he unsheathed a dagger with his free hand, tossing it at one of the clones heading towards Lucca.   
The clone was struck in the spine and fell to the floor, writhing around before it stopped, but just for a moment as it pulled out the dagger and the wound closed up immediately after removing the blade.   
"****!" Glenn exclaimed.   
"Perfect...." Magus thought with a snarl.   
Wendell chuckled.   
"Poor fools...you'll have a hard time destroying these ones...their regenerative capabilities are more than 100X that of normal humans."   
Lucca held up her gun for a moment... her eyes twinkling with revelation.   
"Hey magus..." she said confidently.   
"What is it Lucca?" He asked, somewhat annoyed.   
Lucca smiled and signaled to the clones.   
"Get them nice and close together...."   
Magus looked to Lucca.   
"Why?"   
Lucca gave him a look, a look like it was true that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.   
"Just do as I say..."   
Magus shrugged.   
"Fine..."  
Ayla was carried into Spekkio's room slowly...Spekkio having been taking care of Kid the whole time while Lucca was away, he seemed to do a pretty good job manipulating ice and water to keep Kid busy...but as Ayla came in Spekkio knew what had to be done and left Kid to play with a few toys he made for her.   
"What happened?" Spekkio asked quietly.   
Gaspar looked to spekkio.   
"I know as well as you that you sensed Matzu here...no need to fake stupidity..."   
Spekkio sighed.   
"Very well...I can take care of this problem, but before you go off fighting matzu any more make sure that you're ready..."   
The others nodded.   
Spekkio held his hands out over Ayla and began murmuring silently.   
Suddenly an aura surrounded Ayla and began to stir her from her unconscious state.   
"Uhh...uuuhhh.." Ayla grunted as she moved around slightly, finally waking up fully.   
She opened her eyes and looked around...and began to scream.   
*   
Magus spun, slashed and casted...getting the clones in a group as tight as he could.   
"NOW MOVE!" Lucca yelled as Magus rolled out of the way.   
~My Chronos special, number 13...~ Lucca smiled as she locked and loaded the shell, and fired it at the group.   
Suddenly there was a thunderclap and a flash, and then it was over.   
Magus looked from the clones to Lucca.   
"What exactly did that do genius?" Magus asked with a grimace.   
Lucca smiled.   
"Look..."   
All of the clones were moving incredibly slow...their runs were like slow motion walks and each action took a painfully long time to fulfill.   
"It's my chronos special number 13...it slows down the targets speed by 100,000 percent!"   
Magus smiled, looked to Glenn and signaled.   
"Let's kill these [marathon]s..." Magus said with a grin as they both leapt forward, and suddenly in a flurry of blades and cloth the clones were easily decimated by the skills of both Glenn and Magus as they leapt back from the bloody mess of bone and sinew and landed next to Lucca again, they stared down wendell who just had watched his elite guard die before his eyes.   
"I...I..." Wendell fell to his knees in shock.   
Magus and Glenn walked up to Wendell slowly, their blades ready.   
"Come on now Wendell, we've humiliated you enough...grant us your powers and we can be on our way..."   
Wendell shook his head, his eyes blurred with tears...truly his pride was cut to the bone.   
"Very well...you shall have what you came for..."   
Wendell stood slowly.   
*   
"Who are you people?!" Ayla screamed.   
Crono, Robo and Marle were all shocked at Ayla's reaction.   
"Ummm...Ayla...we're your friends...Matzu just gave you a real bad hit on the back of the head so we had Spekkio heal you..." Crono pointed at Spekkio as he finished the sentence.   
Ayla looked around at all of them in wonder.   
"You've...got to be joking...my name isn't Ayla...it's Rebecca. And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't...." Ayla screamed again, finally seeing Spekkio.   
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"   
Spekkio scoffed.   
"That? 'That' is the master of war thank you very much, and I just healed you...so a thank you might be in order."   
Ayla...or Rebecca...gave Spekkio a look that would have killed him if he were not the Master of War.   
"Thank you..." Rebecca looked around.   
"So where exactly am I?"   
Gaspar spoke up then.   
"Ahem...well young lady, you are at the End of Time...where all the times meet together in a central point."   
Rebecca stared for a moment, and blinked a few times.   
"The...end of time?" Suddenly she started laughing.   
Gaspar scoffed and walked out to the main room while the others looked to Rebecca.   
"You don't believe him? Come with me..." Marle took Rebecca's hand and dragged her to the stairs leading to the epoch.   
"Take a good look! Nothing around...nothing!"   
Rebecca was finally hit with the full force of the situation and suddenly became hostile.   
She spun and threw out her hand at Marle...Marle ducked and then realized that a wave of earth was forming beneath her.   
~Crap!~ she thought as she leapt out of the way and the wave of earth stopped suddenly after Rebecca realized what she was doing.   
"What...what have you done to me?!" Rebecca asked in horror.   
"Ayla...settle down....that's your power and your power alone. You are an earth aligned warrior...I am lightning...Marle is Ice and Robo is shadow...we are working together on a very important mission and..."   
"SHUT UP!" Rebecca screamed, cutting Crono off.   
"I've had enough of your lies! I want to go back home...now!"   
Gaspar looked to Rebecca and made an awkward face.   
"And where exactly is your "home"...Rebecca?   
Rebecca got ready to answer, but for some reason, nothing came out.   
"I...I...don't know..." Rebecca answered quietly.   
Gaspar nodded.   
"Yes...well I suggest you stick around with these guys until we figure out how to get your memory back or find you a better place to stay..."   
Rebecca looked to her fellow 3 heroes.   
"So...what exactly..." Ayla looked down and shrieked momentarily.   
"Why didn't anyone tell me I was walking around in my underwear?!"   
Crono looked to Marle and shrugged.   
Gaspar cleared his throat from behing all of them.   
"I can get you something a little more, suitable for your new persona..."   
Gaspar walked into the back room where the light pillars were and headed into a new pillar that appeared recently to 1998...and headed in, coming out a few moments later with a couple big bags full of clothes.   
"Take these and get changed in the back, but don't touch the pillars of light!"   
Rebecca shrunk back and walked into the other room to get changed.   
Suddenly, Rebecca, along with the other three...began to feel a warm feeling as Gaspar smiled.   
"They have defeated Wendell..."  
Wendell sighed.   
"There...it is done."   
Magus smiled...he felt the new magic running through him, the power of lightning that he could not get on his own.   
"This is amazing...I feel strong enough to take on Matzu right now!" Matzu laughed like a child beholding a new toy on christmas day...but it stopped quickly as Wendell's scolding tone pierced through Magus' visions of happiness.   
"FOOL! Even with all of our powers, matzu could still defeat you...have you not learned? Matzu is unbeatable!"   
Magus snarled and turned back to Wendell.   
"I will prove you wrong old man...so help me! My friends and I..."   
Magus turned to see Lucca and Glenn looking at him in surprise...having acknowledged them as 'friends'.   
Magus realized his mistake of caring and quickly covered it up.   
"...I...will take care of Matzu myself, and then you will see who is indeed more powerful..." Magus stood and turned, walking towards Lucca and Glenn.   
Wendell growled loud enough for all of them to hear as Lucca thought of something.   
"Well...now what? We can't just leave Wendell here...who knows what kind of damage he can still do?"   
Magus turned to wendell.   
"I don't think we have to worry anymore...he knows that he has failed, and now, like Sherkal, he will dissappear into this world...having no one to remember him."   
Wendell dropped his head...   
~Indeed he is right...I can not live with this shame...~   
Lucca saw the thoughts behind his countenance and nodded slowly.   
"I guess you're right, we should get back to the end of time...I'm sure Gaspar has some new information on the other three callers..."   
Glenn followed Magus and Lucca out the door silently. 


	6. Underwater City

Wendell sat in the middle of the floor when suddenly he got a mental message.   
Wendell! Are you there?   
Wendell looked around, then realized who it was.   
Sherkal?!   
Of course it's me you idiot...did they come through yet?   
Yes...in fact I just gave up my lightning powers...   
Good...   
Wendell was puzzled.   
What do you mean good?   
You'll see in time...everything is going according to plan...   
Through the mental conversation, Wendell heard Sherkal laugh.   
*   
Magus, Lucca and Glenn walked down the hall slowly...heading towards the Gate they came in through.   
"We'll get back to the end of time, and we need to see if we can get another Time Travelling machine...we'll need another Epoch for this mission, these gates may not be stable much longer..."   
Lucca thought all of this out loud as she unlocked the gate and they stepped through it slowly.   
*   
Gaspar came out of Spekkio's room with a large staff.   
It was about six feet long, on one end was inscribed in an ancient language "Terra" or in other words "Earth".   
"Rebecca, you may need this on your mission."   
Rebecca took the staff slowly, and suddenly, as if she were born to wield it, began to do amazing tricks and attacks with it.   
"Tri-strike!" she yelled as she jumped into the air, flipping the brought the staff into the ground, cracks shooting out from under the impact as she pushed off of it into a backflip, pushing off of her back leg into a powerful lunge with the staff, and then spun, the staff would have hit the enemies head with incredible speed and strength, easily knocking them unconscious, if not removing their head first.   
"Wow...Rebecca...where did you learn to do that?" Gaspar asked in wonder.   
Rebecca looked to her staff in wonder.   
"I...I...I don't know..." she said...not really sure if she could trust herself anymore.   
Suddenly from the bag a thunderclap was heard as suddenly Magus, Lucca and Glenn appeared.   
"Hello everyone...I trust you felt what we did?" Glenn said with a smile.   
"What 'we' did? Excuse me oh ye of little brain, I was the one doing all the fighting..." Magus chuckled.   
Glenn turned to Magus, but strangely without a look of hatred, rather that of a joking comrade.   
"That's true..." Glenn chuckled as well.   
Lucca walked over to Gaspar.   
"What's Ayla doing with that staff?"   
Gaspar looked to Lucca.   
"That's right, you weren't here..."   
Crono stepped out of Spekkio's room suddenly, with Marle and Robo.   
"I'll explain Gaspar..."   
Crono looked to Lucca.   
"While you guys were gone, Matzu came by here...and he was talking to Gaspar. We arrived and Ayla took a jump at him, as Ayla usually is with enemies, gung-ho..."   
Magus chuckled.   
"Foolish woman..."   
Crono shot a glare to Magus and then continued the story.   
"Anyways...Matzu slammed her into the ground...hard...and now she's lost her memory of being Ayla. Now her name is Rebecca...and she seems pretty handy with a staff."   
Lucca, Glenn and Magus took a moment to catch up on that.   
"So...her name is Rebecca now?" Lucca asked.   
Gaspar nodded.   
"And...she's good with a staff?" Glenn confirmed.   
Gaspar nodded again.   
All of them were silent for a moment...and then Magus realized something.   
"What about her earth magicks? Are they still intact?"   
Gaspar looked to Rebecca, and then back to the party of heroes.   
"For the most part, she won't be a hindrance."   
Magus looked to the others.   
"Is this ok?"   
Crono looked around, individually at Marle, Robo, Lucca, Glenn, Rebecca and then back to Magus.   
"I don't see why not..."   
Magus nodded.   
"Very well then, Gaspar...tell us more on these three other callers...Rendroth, Anshal and Jarl..."   
Gaspar nodded.   
"Rendroth...master of Shadow...exists in the year 428 AD...a little before your times, Glenn and Magus..." Gaspar looked to them for a moment, then continued.   
"Anshal....the master of Space, exists in the year 2743...closer to Robo's time..." Gaspar looked to Robo.   
"Finally, Jarl...the master of time...he exists in the year 10465 AD...slightly before time ends, and all periods meet here...I advise you he may have a solution to the transportation problem you are experiencing...you haven't said it, but it can't be very easy having one time travelling machine and travelling through gates as well...but I warn you, he is the most powerful of the callers, and may be difficult to beat, even with your newfound powers."   
Gaspar looked around.   
"Before, Ayla, Crono, Marle and Robo were heading to fight Quentor...now...do you want to maintain that plan? Or would you rather take on a different caller with all 7 of you? Or split up into two teams and take on two callers?"   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Ok, bigger set of decisions...more places to mess up, and more places to go right....so here we go   
first:   
Do you want to change the parties?   
If yes...state your parties from these selections:   
A) Rebecca/Magus/Lucca/Glenn- Robo/Marle/Crono   
Crono/Magus/Lucca/Marle- Robo/Rebecca/Glenn   
C) Magus/Robo/Rebecca/Glenn- Lucca/Crono/Marle   
Once your party has changed...pick your Caller for each party...remaining Callers:   
Narkon- Water (500 AD-Atlantica)   
Prenthis- Ice (5000 BC-Bendroth-Sharin)   
Rendroth- Shadow (428 AD-Grokthor)   
Anshal- Space (2743 AD-Nertinth)   
Jarl- Time (10465 AD-Chronictor)   
Quentor- Fire (1980 AD- Washington, USA)   
  
If you don't wish to change parties...   
Rebecca/Crono/Marle/Robo: Continue fighting Quentor? Yes or no...   
If Yes...who will Magus/Glenn/Lucca fight next?   
If no...Who will these four fight next as well as Magus/Glenn and Lucca?  
Okay, I guess I'll just have to go off of two votes. I really want more people to get in on this...so try and spread the word a little more. SO it's Party A-Space Caller.   
BTW...decent choices...but not the best. You move up to a 7...but the better choices could have got you up to a 9...and the worst ones all the way down to a 3. Ok...let's move on shall we?   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
"We should redistribute the groups..." Crono said softly.   
Everyone turned to Crono, some shocked, some relieved it seemed like...that they were getting a change of pace. Rebecca probably had the most worried look of all of them, after all...she barely knew these people.   
"Alright...Lucca Magus and Glenn...you guys go with Rebecca...I'll be with Marle and Robo...we'll be heading out to fight Narkon...you guys go and find the space caller and see what he can do. He might have another ship we could use."   
Magus looked to Glenn, and then Lucca, and finally to the bewildered Rebecca.   
"If I'm going to be stuck with them I better be getting the front seat..."   
Magus said with a gruff scowl.   
Lucca smiled.   
"I'm sure Rebecca won't mind sitting in Glenn's lap..." Lucca shot a suggestive smirk to Rebecca, who was now as red as a beet as she turned to Glenn and made an aggravated face, almost like she thought that Glenn had planned it from the beginning.   
Glenn shrunk back for a moment, then stood fast again.   
Rebecca then turned her gaze to Lucca, who really couldn't care less, she was revelling in the moment...the silence was unbearable, beginning to coagulate to the point where it was almost tangible until finally Rebecca said.   
"Fine..."   
Lucca nodded and looked over to Crono.   
"So you guys will be taking the Bucket to Narkon's Atlantica...oh my god!"   
Marle looked to Lucca quickly.   
"What is it?"   
Lucca paced for a moment, rubbing her forehead like she was deep in thought of pondering one of the most difficult questions posed to mankind, the pacing drove everyone crazy...back and forth...back and forth...finally she stopped and pivoted on her heel...turning to Gaspar.   
"Is there a Gate underwater? We were counting on using the Epoch to get to Atlantica...remember?"   
Gaspar slapped his forehead.   
"That's right...I suppose that Magus and his party will be using the Bucket then."   
Rebecca sighed...relieved. Almost like the entire world had been lifted off of her shoulders she smiled.   
"So...what's the Bucket anyways?"   
Gaspar turned and pointed at...well...the bucket.   
"That is the bucket, and it's what I open optional Gates with. This one will take you to Anshal while the others go to fight Narkon..."   
Rebecca looked at the bucket doubtfully for a moment...then nodded.  
Rebecca looked back to Magus, Lucca and Glenn, who were all equally disappointed that they had to use the bucket.   
"Fine, we'll take the bucket, but we need to hurry up, because Matzu is probably heading after the callers as well." Magus said as he walked towards the bucket slowly.   
"Oh! Gaspar?" Lucca asked as she walked over to the old man.   
"What is it child?" Gaspar asked.   
"Well..it's about Kid...would it..."   
Gaspar smiled.   
"Of course, Spekkio is having a great time with Kid...she'll be fine...don't worry."   
Lucca smiled and sighed with relief.   
"Thank you so much...! Goodbye Gaspar!" Lucca waved and turned around, walking to the bucket with Rebecca and Glenn following after her.   
Magus waved his hand towards the bucket as it opened and he stepped in.   
"Come on! We don't have time to waste..." Magus snarled as Rebecca, Lucca and Glenn stepped in quickly and the gate closed in front of them.   
Crono looked to Marle and Robo and smiled.   
"To the epoch! We'll meet Narkon underwater and take him head on!"   
The three ran and leapt off of the side of the End of Time as they set the dial to 500 AD and placed the location just over a sea that was known to the 1000 AD folks as the Aquariam Leene.   
Crono smiled as he pulled back the lever and input the execution code to take off with a thunderclap as Gaspar took a deep breath.   
"God help them..." he muttered as the heroes spread out.   
*   
Magus stepped out of the gate first, Rebecca holding her staff as she came out second...followed by Glenn and Lucca.   
"Creepy...let's hurry up ok? I don't want to be sticking around for too long." Rebecca said with a shudder.   
Magus looked to Rebecca with a mocking grin.   
"What? Are you afraid?"   
Rebecca snarled and spun, swinging her staff around it came about an inch away from Magus' nose, but he didn't flinch.   
"At least she's still as violent as she was before..." Magus said with a snicker.   
"Calm down now. Let's get going." Lucca said as she reloaded her gun and walked down the empty corridor. The cold air was surrounding them and seemed to encase them in their own solid tomb, something in the air was distracting them.   
Magus sniffed around for a moment.   
"There's...something in the air..." he noted quietly.   
Lucca sniffed around, then Glenn, and then finally Rebecca.   
"Yeah...I smell it too...what is it?" Rebecca asked curiously.   
"I don't know...but I don't trust it..." Glenn said as he looked around and unsheathed the Masamune.   
Suddenly, all fell silent.   
Down the metallic, silent corridors all four of them heard something...   
Breathing.   
*   
Crono and the others appeared over the Aquariam and looked down into the ocean.   
"I guess now we get to see how well the Epoch can swim." Crono said quietly as they suddenly went plummeting into the water.   
The epoch crashed into the sea, and continued barreling forward, its wings held steady and finally the engines kicked up, and they were on their way.   
"The city of Atlantica should be down this way...about 15 miles or so." Crono said as they began their journey.   
"You'd think at that low of a level we'd run into some sort of monstrous animal or something." Marle said quietly, not wanting to really push her luck on what may jump out of the shadows.   
"No need to worry about those things, and you shouldn't say things like that. They might come true." Crono said with a smile as Marle slapped him upside the head.   
"Very funny doofus! Now keep driving!" she ordered.   
"Yes Ma'am..." Crono agreed.   
The underwater drive was happening for about 15 minutes when all of the sudden a huge shadow darkened the epoch for about 20 seconds...but nobody saw what it was.   
"Hey...did you see that?" Crono asked as he turned around to look at Robo.   
"Negative, although my sensors are picking up an organic life form, and a rather large one. To our east."   
Robo looked out the right window and saw the creature at the same time Crono did.   
"MARLE! HIT IT!" he yelled as Marle stepped on the acceleration and they took off through the water.   
The creature behind them was bigger than a blue whale and had teeth that could tear through steel like a hand through water.   
"****! Hurry up Marle!" Crono yelled as he unsheathed his rainbow sword.   
Marle saw him unsheath his blade.   
"How the hell do you expect to fight him underwater?!" Marle asked as she slammed on the acceleration again.   
"With great skill..." Crono muttered as the creature began to close in on them.   
"Alright Marle...when I get to one, I want you to open the hatch very quickly so I can get out...alright?"   
Marle looked to Crono with an unbelieving expression.   
"What about the water that floods in here?!" She demanded.   
"Honey, you can cast an ice shield almost immediately to keep the water out....Robo can help you too...I'll be ok."   
Marle saw the look in Crono's eyes, and when she saw that look she always felt like everything would be alright.   
"Fine...but you better come back to me alive..." she said as her eyes began to water.   
Crono kissed her gently on the lips.   
"Don't worry...I will. Now...5....4"   
Marle got the hatch door ready.   
"3....2...ONE!"  
Rebecca peered down the corridor as hard as she could, trying to make out whatever it was that was breathing further down.   
"I can almost see it..." Rebecca said softly as she held her staff readily in her right hand.   
Lucca held out her hand and fired a small blast of fire as it went soaring down the corridor and collided with something soft.   
There was a sudden shriek as the light was cast over the beast that was hiding in the shadows.   
Rebecca and Lucca both turned in horror from the gruesome sight as Glenn and Magus could do nothing more than stare in awe at the creature's horrific figure.   
Its torso was twisted and stretched...some bones sticking out of several parts of its body. One of its arms was short and stubby while the other was grossly overproportioned and dragged along the floor. Its legs bent forward and backward at a dislocated joint.   
Finally, its face...which was the most horrifying of all. Its left eye was about six inches wide and twitched frequently, but never blinked. Its right eye was much smaller. Less than a 1/4 inch around and was completely red.   
The creature staggered out of the darkness with an inhuman squeal as it dragged its left arm, which was the oversized one, into the light with the four heroes.   
"By Cyrus' grave! What a creature!" Glenn declared in horror as Magus snarled.   
"This guy makes those infernal Chaos monsters on the Black Omen seem like little puppies..."   
Lucca turned and Rebecca did shortly afterward to face the demon.   
The demon hissed and began to speak in a dragging, sickening tone.   
"I have a question...yet there is no answer...respond well to my riddle...and I shall let you pass...fail...and you die...like so many others!" the creature bellowed as it began to cough.   
It stopped coughing and looked to the heroes.   
"I never was, am always to be,   
No one ever saw me, nor ever will   
And yet I am the confidence of all   
To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball...what am I?" the creature gasped.   
Glenn looked to his comrades and shrugged...   
*  
Marle opened the hatch as Crono leapt out, Marle instantly shielded the top and kept too much water from coming in.   
Crono snarled as he held out his rainbow sword.   
~I have to make this quick!~ he thought as he charged at the creature and engulfed his blade in a purple flame as he went straight for the monster's head and plunged his sword in, channeling lightning through the beast as it fell lifelessly through the water. Crono turned to see the Epoch turning around to come back and pick him up.   
*  
Magus stepped forward boldly.  
"It must be air...the air around us."  
The creature hissed and scowled.  
"No..that is wrong!"  
Magus snarled and took a step back as Glenn stepped forward.  
"The soul? A person's soul?"  
The creature reared back, its anger growing.  
"No...that is incorrect!"  
Rebecca looked to the creature.  
"Light...? Is it light?"  
The creature now let out an inhuman screech as the heroes cowered and its eyes took on a fearsome red glow.  
"NO! Be warned...you only have three more chances!"  
*  
Crono waited for the epoch to come back as it flew by beneath him he made his way into the open cockpit, with water inside of it, about three inches worth on the ground as he kisses Marle gently on the cheek.  
"Good job honey..." he said as he sheathed his blade.  
"Now then...off to Narkon..."  
Lucca stepped up to the monster.  
"Your riddle...the answer is...tomorrow, isn't it?"  
The beast screeched and stumbled back a few steps.  
"Yes..." it gasped as its eyes flared suddenly...baring its brilliant white fangs.  
Magus snarled.  
"Why do I get the feeling that he's still going to come after us?" he said as he took out his scythe.  
Rebecca chuckled.  
"Figures...but that's ok...I'm up for using this new staff on something nice and soft..." she said as some of her former persona seemed to break through.  
Glenn and Lucca both armed themselves as the creature's breaths became growls and hisses, its eyes growing even brighter as it stepped back out into the light.  
"The creature sure is a frightening heathen, isn't it?" Glenn acknowledged as the creature stood there, looking down on the unfortunate bunch who came to challenge him.  
"Enough talk..." Rebecca muttered as she placed one end of her staff on the ground and launched herself at the creature's head, kicking it hard in the face as she kicked off of it into a backflip and landed on one knee.  
The creature grunted and took a step back, and then lurched forward, taking a powerful swing towards Magus, Glenn and Lucca as they rolled backwards, away from the creatures mighty swing.  
Magus pushed himself up and leapt into the air, holding out his hand as he murmured and a wave of fire shot out at the monster, engulfing him as a siren's screech seemed to fill the room, all of the heroes falling to their knees, clasping their heads in pain.  
Meanwhile...back with Crono and company...  
  
Marle, Robo and Crono approached the city of Atlantica rather quickly. Reaching its borders as suddenly a fleet of strange-looking ships surrounded the epoch as a voice came over a speaker.  
"Who are you? Why do you dare to intrude and penetrate the barriers of atlantica?"  
Crono pressed a button on the control panel of the epoch and spoke.  
"We come in search of Narkon...would any of you be kind enough as to lead us to him?"  
Laughs were heard over the speakers as another voice took the intercom.  
"One does not simply be led to Narkon, he is the emperor of our world, we will not let you see him so easily."  
Crono sighed as Marle took the intercom.  
"What must we do to see him?"  
"Why, request an audience with him of course..."  
"And how long will that take?"  
The guards were silent for a moment...and then another voice came on the intercom.  
"About two years..."  
Crono, Marle and Robo shared the shock as they all looked to each other with wide eyes and angry countenances.  
"We can not wait two years to see his lordship Narkon, we must speak with him now."  
"On whose authority are you allowed to speak in such a tone?"  
Suddenly robo leaned over and took the intercom.  
"On the authority of Gaspar, the Guru of time!" he said loudly and clearly into the intercom.  
Suddenly, everything fell dead silent.  
Crono looked to Robo, thinking that perhaps that one outburst may have cost them their ship, if not their lives.  
Suddenly, a voice came over the intercom, low and calm.  
"You said...Gaspar? The Guru of time? What proof do you have that you are indeed one of his own warriors?"  
Crono got on the intercom once more.  
"We have been chosen by Gaspar to be warriors of Time. We have all been given his blessing, and we are out on a mission to meet with the Callers...and so we now ask you to see Narkon immediately."  
The guards all sighed and looked to one another as the captain carried out his own conversation within his ship.  
"Can these outsiders be trusted?"  
His second in command walked to him slowly.  
"Sir, we can have them meet Narkon, and he can test them himself, then we'll know if they are truly Gaspar's chosen, or simply educated frauds. And if they are frauds, Narkon will be more than happy to destroy them himself."  
The captain nodded.  
"Very well..." he said as he turned on the intercom again.  
"You can see Narkon...we will escort you to his palace...if you would follow us..."  
The ships turned and led the epoch to a monstrous palace, where their next enemy awaited them.  
* 


	7. Dalton Returns

Magus leapt at the creature and spun, bringing his Scythe around to slash the creature's throat as Lucca loaded her gun and took another two shots. Rebecca pushed off of her staff into a leap-kick as Glenn held out his blade and began to murmur, preparing for a leap slash.  
The creature staggered backwards, the scythe missing it by an inch, holding out its hand as it caught one of the bullets, two others going into its chest area as it winced and howled and Rebecca's foot connected with the creature's head as it spun and landed on the ground with a thud.  
Glenn then leapt into the air and landed, plunging the Masamune through the creatures middle as it squealed in extreme pain.  
Glenn withdrew his blade and leapt back as they all stood back and watched the, supposedly dying, creature.  
Suddenly, the creature twitched as it slowly stood up, its wounds closing as its sounds became more human...it howled and threw out its arms as it began to change shape and form...and as it turned around the four heroes could simply stare in disbelief.  
There, standing in front of them, was a spitting image of Dalton.  
"You...you pathetic little insects..." Dalton said with a hiss.  
"You ruined me...you destroyed my life...and now look what I have become!"  
Dalton's arm morphed and re-morphed, growing large and then small as he talked.  
"I used to be a Zeal elite...one of the chosen to become immortal...now every day is like living death...a hellhole I must experience, and its all your fault!"  
Magus snarled.  
"You were greedy Dalton, you grabbed for what you couldn't have, and you got burned in the process..."  
Lucca simply stood there flabbergasted.  
"How...how did you end up in this time period?" She asked quietly.  
Dalton looked to her with a snarl.  
"After the accident on the epoch...I was pulled into a time portal...and brought to this dark place...I was then subjected to terrifying experiments, where they turned me into what I am now...and the horror is that there are more like me, everywhere."  
Rebecca stepped forward and held her staff to Dalton's chin.  
"Where is Anshal? Have you seen him?"  
Dalton stepped back with a menacing grimace.  
"When did the cave woman get the ability to speak? I have not seen this Anshal, though it is said he is the mastermind of these horrific experiments."  
Suddenly, Glenn stepped forward and whispered something in Lucca's ear. She nodded and went to Rebecca, whispering it as she took it with some reluctance, and then went to Magus.  
"Magus...the concensus is to offer Dalton a place with our group for now, so he can take revenge for his horrors...what do you think?"  
Magus stood there, amazed that the proposition was even on the table. 


End file.
